The Hazard Symbol REWRITE
by YAJJ
Summary: Two years of searching has landed Gallantmon exactly nothing but a few friends. He's nowhere near getting home, nowhere near helping new friends find their own digimon... and nowhere near finding a dying Takato, lost in the Digital World. Rewrite!
1. Chapter 1

THE HAZARD SYMBOL REWRITE

A/N: This is exactly what it says. My original story, The HAzard Symbol, had some plot flaws and I didn't like the writing style (at all) so it'll all be rewritten. Yes, probably including that last chapter that I just put up. So if you read, reviewed, liked, favorited, or alerted my story The Hazard Symbol, then you will probably like this one too ;D The plotline is still mostly the same, but I changed the scene of the kidnapping and I added lots more detail. :)

Disclaimer: I own Drasilya. That's it. No digimon, whatsoever. But that's okay, I'm prefectly happy making other people happy by writing this :)

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><p>The sun set over the digital landscape surrounding Drasilya, the single largest city in the Digital World, containing the largest amount of digimon. Gallantmon squatted as he continued tidying up his living quarters, amber eyes burning in concentration.<p>

His quarters looked as good as new, just as they had the day that he'd moved in, nearly two years ago. Well, he figured that they did at least. He _hoped_ that they did.

Today was the day. Today was _definitely_ the day. And it didn't matter that he'd said that every day for the past week, _today was the day_. 'Takato, I'm coming for you…'

His deep eyes found their way to the window, and he looked out at the sun. How beautiful the sun was: always sparking with vibrancy and screaming, "I'm most important, pay attention to _me_!" Gallantmon wished that he had that kind of resiliency, that kind of determination. He figured that with it, he'd be the best digimon ever. With it, he could protect anyone and everyone.

With it, he wouldn't have let Takato go missing.

He winced to himself and turned away, to look at the door. He sighed. He didn't like thinking about that; thinking about his failure. He was supposed to protect his Tamer and he'd royally screwed up. He'd joined the Royal Knights just weeks afterwards, to atone for his sins.

"Gallantmon?"

Gallantmon jolted in surprise and placed his attention back on the present. He blinked, and offered his friend a smile—one that could only be seen through his ever-emotional eyes. "Omnimon, how are we? Is something the matter?"

The current leader of the Royal Knights raised his eyebrows at Gallantmon. He stepped into the white knight's room and peered around. "Where are all of your belongings? It looks as though this room has never been touched! And I know it has been; it was a mess yesterday! …Gallantmon, whatever are you doing?"

Gallantmon stood, choosing to face his fate proudly rather than hide behind a lie. A brave soldier, King Drasil would have called him. He thought that Takato would have been proud. "I'm leaving." He stepped around Omnimon and into the hallway, heading down it if only to prove his point.

"Leaving? You are not; you'll be killed for it! You know it, I know it… all of the Knights know it! What are you thinking? Are you stupid?" Omnimon quickly followed the shorter knight.

Gallantmon shook his head. "If that is so it shall be, I will accept that fate. But later. I have a mission, and it's far more important than looking out for any king of any kind." He said calmly. He glanced back and looked Omnimon up and down. "And if I were _you_, I'd be doing the same."

Omnimon's blue eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me this is that partner business again. We've gone over this! I have no partner and neither have you!" So what was that warm feeling in his chest? "Just admit it, Gallantmon; you make up these stories for fun! There was no such thing as a goggleheaded boy who could join with you to make a Crimson you! _Admit it_!"

"I will not admit such lies and if you _dare_ make me than truth is, I could squash you flat."

"Says the knight who was nearly deleted _by me_ in the entry fight!"

"I've improved!"

"As have I!"

Gallantmon ground his teeth beneath his mask. He clenched his right fist, and it suddenly burst into his beloved lance Gram. He pointed the deadly weapon at his leader. "Don't make me use this, Omnimon. I don't want to. You make think that this 'partner business' is nonsense but to me, it's the world! Takato is my life and I will give anything to find him and protect him once more! And if I have to fight you, I promise you this Omnimon I will _not lose_!"

Omnimon winced at the anger and determination in his friend's eyes. His hand dropped and he nodded. "I do not wish to fight you, friend. If there is a quest that you feel you must complete, you should not come back until it has been done…is what I _should_ say. Gallantmon, find this myth of yours. There will always be a place for you here."

Gallantmon paused in surprise, gulped, and nodded. "I thank you, Omnimon. I shall always remember, so long as you do not forget me."

"How do I forget my Mr. Second in Command?" replied Omnimon quietly, his voice low. He smiled behind his own mask and held out a hand.

Gram changed back once more, and soon on Gallantmon's right arm was a hand, which was taken and shook fiercely. Chuckling, Gallantmon released him and put up a hand in farewell. "Should you find a kid with red eyes, brown hair, and goggles on his head, please do not hesitate to tell me." He said.

Blue eyes widened in shock, but then they closed. Just as Gallantmon had done, he gulped and nodded, his head low. Gallantmon thought that he almost looked like he was asking for forgiveness. "Should I find him, I shall send a Rinkmon to find you and return you here. Good luck."

Gallantmon grabbed hold of the handle of a nearby door. Pulling it open, he stepped into the fancier streets of Drasilya. As it slid shut, he walked along the most secluded path, practically bouncing. Waving in farewell to Kentaurosmon at the gate but not explaining a single thing, he left the city, his cape billowing around him as a last remnant of his life here.

How wonderful a day tomorrow would be, he decided as he walked. Tomorrow would be the day that he could get things done, really get cracking and find his beloved Tamer. 'If today's the day, I can't wait for what tomorrow will bring!'


	2. Chapter 2

REWRITE

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited. Particularly loved that after 2 days the favorites and alerts list went from 0 and 0 to 14 and 16. Ah, how my heart is warm :3

So, I've decided that a pattern shall be in place for this. I will be updating every Monday and Thursday. I should be able to keep up with that, since I'm currently 2 chapters ahead of this one... and in the beginning of the fifth. So, that should work out ;D

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><p>"How wonderful a plan this will be, how smoothly this will go! Gallantmon doesn't even have to know that his creature's here and he'll be <em>obeying<em> our every beck and call, isn't that what you said, Cherrymon?"

"Shut up. Most digimon don't have that much of a conscience. How was I to know that this one would have one?"

"Figures that the _one_ that you picked would have the strongest conscience of them all. Do you not understand what has happened? One of our most powerful fighting forces has left, _abandoned_ us to search for this _thing_ and it's all your fault! Do you not know what I can _do_ to you? Majiramon!"

Fourteen-year-old Takato Matsuki winced as the digimon used against him most often appeared in front of the mighty King of Drasilya, Yggdrasil himself. The dragon digimon snarled ferociously, and the first thing that Takato thought of was the amount of times that the frightening thing had been used on him.

Cherrymon held up his cane and apologized. "Well, it got you his use for two years, didn't it? And he still doesn't realize that his human's right here. That's what matters. If things start getting really bad, we'll go hostage on him and kill this kid in front of him… unless he does what we want."

The floating ball of bright blue energy that was Yggdrasil condensed, as though angered. His visage peered around at the boy in their grasp, who was being held captive among the very digimon that Yggdrasil controlled.

Takato, unable to look his captor straight on, turned away, his arms weakly spread around him and his wound festering disgustingly. But of course, it'd done that on and off for the past two years. There was nothing to worry about. Instead, his eyes found the several Apemon around him, being held in the other cages. Each of them had probably had a taste of his blood and was excited for more.

Takato knew that he'd been placed among the powerful Champions for a reason. It was none other than for Yggdrasil to tell Takato that he had total control over him, that nothing would happen to Takato without Yggdrasil deciding that it could happen. Which meant that no matter how hard Gallantmon looked, he'd never be rescued. He may as well die right there; the end result would be the same anyway.

Dried blood caked his shirt; fresh blood was currently wetting his pants as it leaked from his stomach wound. In two years, he hadn't gotten the chance to clean the dumb wound, so if it was anything, it was worse. He glanced down at his left arm, which had been broken badly during his kidnapping and had yet to heal correctly. Yggdrasil had actually broken it two other times, and it was currently going through a healing process, hopefully for the last time.

"Why do you have that kid watch us, anyway?" asked Cherrymon, his yellow eyes turning upon Takato's frame in disgust.

This time, Yggdrasil released a deep chuckle. "You don't like him watching? That can be arranged, I can assure you. Oh, Pandamon? _Bamboo Punch_."

Takato cursed to himself but at the same time pleaded that this would kill him. The creaking of a door sounded as his own cage door and the Pandamon's opened, and with one "Bamboo Punch!" to his festering wound, Takato was knocked out flat.

Flashback

Takato rubbed his temples evenly, groaning in discomfort at the migraine that had set in his head. Rika glanced back at him, her eyebrows raised, and he offered her an innocent smile in return. She chuckled a little but left him, knowing that his head was hurting.

"So, Brainiac, you really think that Yamaki will listen to us?" asked the redhead of Henry Wong, who was leading them toward the Hypnos building.

"Well, I hope so. I mean, he did tell us 'maybe next time' the last time we came, didn't he?" Henry replied assuredly.

Yamaki _had_ to open a portal for them this time. How else would they ever get their digimon partners back? He _had_ to listen to them.

"Takato? Is your head hurting that bad? I have some Tylenol in my bag, would you like some?" Jeri watched her best friend anxiously, looking him over.

Takato smiled at her but shook his head, allowing himself another groan of pain. "No, it's fine. I get migraines all of the time nowadays, I just have to wait for it to pass…" he said, his hands dropping back to his sides.

Truth be told, he didn't think that it actually _was_ a migraine. Well, he knew that it wasn't. For the past few days, he'd been hearing voices in his head. One, in particular, was scaring him. The others were simply his own thoughts.

Nothing happened that he could remember, besides Yamaki's deep voice snarling at them, dark eyes hidden behind darker glasses tinted over evenly with worry, telling them, "of course not, it's far too dangerous! You'll _never_ go to the Digital World unless there's someone with you to protect you! _Never_."

Then, he was walking home. He'd waved goodbye to his friends, Jeri the first to say goodbye and Henry the last. He was only a few streets from the bakery, and he could feel that particular feeling of "you're home" washing over him.

_You'll never be home. I'll make sure of that._

His head whipped around and another shot of pain whipped through. This time, that voice hadn't been in his head. No, he'd heard it from… the alley across the street? He squinted his eyes, wanting to know what the heck had been creeping on him, and suddenly, silver eyes were alight. "_Flaming Arrowheads!_"

Takato had barely enough time to duck as a thousand flames shot from the alley. They hit the glass behind him and melted it. 'I couldn't have picked a worse time to be without Guilmon!' he thought. He stood and started running towards home, just in time to dodge another Flaming Arrowheads.

Takato glanced over his shoulder once, only to see a very long, green dragon tearing after him, its four legs working like never before to keep in pace. Once it was close enough, its long tail snapped out and slid beneath Takato's feet, effectively flipping him to the ground. He screamed in pain when his elbow smacked the ground, shattering the forearm bone instantaneously. "Son of a—"

But no. No time for cursing. He had to work his twelve-year-old muscles to get him back home.

"Flaming Arrowheads!" His legs were burned severely, nearly pitching Takato back onto his stomach when the boy attempted to stand. However, he managed to keep his balance, continuing now at a slightly slower pace, cradling his arm against his chest.

A thought occurred to him. Where the heck was everyone? Why wasn't anyone helping him? And _why wasn't he getting any closer to home_?

With a smack from the dragon digimon's tail, he was once again sent to the ground, this time rolling onto his back to face the frightening thing. It stepped on his legs and exclaimed, "Flaming Arrowheads!"

Takato fought to escape the digimon's death grip as flames tore at his stomach and riddled along his entire abdomen. He wanted to scream, but his head and his throat were hurting too badly.

It smacked him to the side and he rolled against the building, onto his stomach. Well, at least that put the flames out. Glancing back at the creature, he noticed a trail of blood going from the edge of the sidewalk to him, and his brain took a few seconds to make the connection. That blood… it was _his_! All of that blood! He winced and gasped as the Majiramon stooped and lifted him in its claws. Its tail circled the air, and a portal formed. Grinning, the Majiramon stepped through the portal, and Takato found himself in the Digital World, though not _quite_ in the state that he wanted to be in.

End

"Takato? Takato… wake up! Are you alright, kid?"

Cherry red eyes slid open, and Takato found himself face to face with a pair of bright blue eyes. He screamed once in surprise and attempted to sit up. However, he gasped and doubled over in pain, clutching at his wound.

"Takato!"

Takato glanced up at the digimon who was currently at his side. His eyebrows crunched as he tried to discern who was by him, finally mutering, "Omnimon?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you doing alright?"

Takato wanted to nod, wanted to assure the digimon that he would be alright and not have to put any more thoughts in his mind, but he couldn't. With a slow shake of his head, he muttered, "n-n-no… s-stomach hurts…"

Omnimon sighed and looked him over. He crouched and set his hand on the boy's back to help him sit up a little better. "I see. It looks like that Pandamon got you good. Why did it attack you?" he asked.

"Ch-Cherrymon didn't l-like me watching 'r something…"

Omnimon frowned behind his mask and glanced back down at the nasty green wound on the boy's stomach. Omnimon didn't think that he'd ever eat right again. He turned his head away from the boy and stood. "I've got to go. Just wanted to make sure that you were alright. See you soon, kid."

Takato gulped heavily and nodded. "B-bye, Omnimon."

Takato couldn't even explain how _good_ it felt to have someone who wanted to check up on him, to make sure that he was safe, here. Sure, he wished that it were Gallantmon or his parents, but as long as it was _someone_, he'd take it.

For the hundredth time in as many hours, he prayed to himself that someone would discover the treachery, would find his D-Power, and _finally_ listen to the message that he'd left years ago upon his final entry to the Digital World.

But after two years, what were the actual chances that something would go right?


	3. Chapter 3

REWRITE

This last outcome was a little depressing, but that's OKAY! I guess? I hope that everyone like last chapter (and likes this chapter) both flashbacks are a lot more interesting than the original's.

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><p>"Come on Rika, there's no point in hiding it. <em>No point<em>. Something's bothering you. The same thing happened today last year, too. What is it?"

Rika shoved her hands in her pockets and snarled to herself, wanting for the obnoxious girl beside her to hush up. She didn't want to talk about it. But then, she hadn't talked _all day_. Neither had Jeri or Henry. Just the same as last year.

"You know that you want to tell me…"

"I really don't." Rika snarled.

"But you tell me _everything_."

"See last answer."

Rika's newest friend at the public school, Suri, puffed almost angrily. "Please tell me? I just want to make you feel better…" she whined.

Rika clenched her fists, turned on the girl, and exploded. "Would you shut _the hell_ up? My gosh, the only way that you can make me feel better is by finding one of my best friends and erasing the past two years that he's been gone!" Rika exclaimed, reaching a hand up to slap her but fighting the urge.

Suri stopped walking, tears suddenly in her eyes. Rika frowned deeply and tore off, only pausing when she saw a flash of golden fur. Renamon dropped down beside her and sighed. "You don't have to be so mean to her, Rika. She was only trying to help." She scolded softly, her ears down.

Rika kicked the ground. "She doesn't know about Takato and she doesn't care. What gives her the right to know?" she demanded. She reached her hands back to take her ponytail out, only to redo it seconds later, this time tighter. Her hands dropped, and she frowned again. "He'll never come home, will he, Renamon?" she asked, suddenly extremely out of character, suddenly very frightened, suddenly very not Rika Nonaka.

Renamon didn't know what to say. It wasn't often that she saw Rika in states like this, and she never did know what to do about it. "I… of course he will, Rika. Soon. You'll see."

"Oh, _I'll_ see. Thanks." As though the answer hadn't been satisfactory, Rika headed toward home in a huff, amethyst eyes narrowed darkly. Renamon sighed, shook her head, and followed after.

Flashback

"What do you mean, _he's missing_?" asked 12-year-old Rika, the day after she and all of her friends had gone to demand Yamaki to let them into the Digital World. She settled into her seat at the table, the phone squeezed between her ear and shoulder as she did her homework.

"_Exactly what I said. I don't know, Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki called me ten minutes ago asking if Takato was over. I called Kazu and Kenta. They don't know. I've even called Ryo, but he hasn't heard anything. So it's just you and Jeri. Have you seen him?_" replied Henry, sitting at his computer.

"No, why would I have? Look, just try to locate the dork on his D-Power. That should do something." Rika took a bite of her apple and munched on it quietly, digging into her history homework.

"_I already tried that. It's not coming up._"

"So maybe he broke it and got lost. I wouldn't put it past him." Said Rika. She leaned over and scribbled down an answer.

"_You can't even be a little worried about him?_" Henry asked in exasperation.

"Meh. I don't do worry." Rika shrugged around her apple.

"_What if something bad happened to him?_"

"Takato can handle himself. Or do you not remember the battle against Beelzemon?"

"_Of course I do. But he had Guilmon then._"

Rika sighed. "If I tell you that I'll call if I see him, will you let me do my homework?"

"_Only if you mean it._"

"Then I'll call. Promise. See you later, Brainiac." She hung up the call and continued doing her homework.

The next few hours actually did worry her. She got two phone calls from the Matsuki Bakery, one from Henry, three from Jeri, and one from Ryo. Where had the Gogglehead run off to? It was six o' clock on a Saturday evening, and she was currently roaming the town, checking Guilmon's hut for any sign of her goggle headed friend.

"Rika…"

"Huh?" Maybe it was Takato! But no, it didn't sound like _his_ voice. But the voice… it was comforting, one that she recognized… what was it?

"Rika…"

Then... no way… "Renamon!"

"Rika!"

Out of the forest surrounding Guilmon's hut sprung three little digimon. Gigimon, Gummymon, and… Viximon! "Renamon! It's you, what are you doing here? What took you so long?" asked Rika, falling to her knees as Viximon bounded over to her, tiny paws flying. The young fox cuddled into her arms as soon as she reached her, rubbing her head against her arms. Gigimon and Gummymon hopped up alongside her. "You must be… Gogglehead and Brainiac's digimon, right? Guilmon and Terriermon?"

Gummymon giggled, nodding. "That's us, Rika! Where's Henry? Is he here?" he asked, hopping around her, onto Gigimon's head, and then onto Rika's knee.

"No, he's at home. You know how to get there, right?"

"Do I ever! Bye-bye, Gigimon, Viximon, it was fun traveling with you! Hey, when Capurimon, Kokomon, Yaamon, MarineAngemon, Wanyamon, and Hopmon come, tell them I said bye!"

"Wait… everyone's coming?" asked Rika, watching the little green digimon hop away.

Gigimon's tail started wagging, his ears down. "Yes, yes, yes Rikamon! Azulongmon let us come home! He said that we'd be better off causing mayhem here with you guys than there without you!" he giggled.

Rika laughed, tugging Viximon up to kiss her head. "I agree." She nodded.

Viximon squeaked in joy. "Rika, I told you that we'd see each other again! I always knew! Oh, Rika, I love you too!" she cried.

Rika laughed again, holding her best friend close. "Yeah… love you…"

Gigimon peered around them and started hopping around, rubbing his face against the soft grass. "Rikamon, Rikamon, where is Takatomon? I want to know!" he exclaimed, practically purring. His tail was working quadruple time to wag as quickly as he could make it.

Rika paused, and her arms dropped into her lap, Viximon going with her. Gigimon's heart skipped a beat but he continued wagging excitedly. "Um… do you know how to get to the bakery? I… I will bring you there if you want."

"Takatomon's not here?"

"Nope. Not now." Rika stood and hugged Viximon tighter. She forced herself to continue walking, suddenly feeling the wight of a thousand worlds on her shoulders. What if it turned out that Takato really _was_ missing? Would _she_ have to tell Gigimon?

The hut approached. Yes, she could see the gate to it now… ah, there it was. A faint glow in the back, where Guilmon had dug them a hole.

She brought Gigimon back home to the Matsuki's bakery, and within two days, he headed back to the Digital World, after discovering trace amounts of data fluttering around a shop only a street away from the bakery, barely alive.

After that, she didn't know _what_ had happened to him, and honestly, she didn't know if she wanted to know.

"Rika…

"Rika…"

End Flashback

"Rika!"

Rika gasped and her breath hitched. She turned up to the voice to find her partner watching her in worry. She had paused at the gate to her picturesque outdoor garden, her hand ready to push it open, her eyes closed, deep in thought. She blinked. "What?"

"Is something bothering you, Rika?"

Rika sighed and pushed the gate open, holding it for her partner. "You mean besides the obvious, I hope." She said.

"Of course."

"…I don't know. I was just thinking. My mind wandered. That's all. Come on, we should go. I have a bucket load of homework due for tomorrow." Despite saying that, she ran her hand along one of the large rocks surrounding the pond, and sighed, stripping her feet of their coverings and dipping them into the cool water. She sat and set her elbows on her knees, closing her eyes and resting, looking infinitely comfortable.

Renamon sighed and pulled Rika's bag away from her, bringing it inside to her Tamer's room, before going to sit with her as well.


	4. Chapter 4

REWRITE

Is this story not as good as the last one? I'm almost offended by the amount of reviews this story has compared to the orginal one... 64 reviews to 16 chapters. And 5 reviews to 3 chapters? Ouch...

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><p>Aurumon fluttered over to the table of the Royal Knight, the digimon's order clutched in his talons. "Here you go, Mr. Royal Knight sir. How are your missions going?" he asked, dropping the tray in front of the knight.<p>

The white knight smiled with his eyes and thanked him. "Well enough, I hope. Actually… you may be able to help me. You get a lot of digimon around here, right?"

"Why yes sir, Gallantmon sir. I get them from all four quadrants. All different species. All different levels. I figure that I must have seen every species of digimon that there is!" after a second question, Aurumon perched on the table, tucking his wings against him. "Yes, I'm friendly. What can I say? I love being able to talk with digimon. Is that a crime now?"

A deep chuckle sounded from the very bottom of Gallantmon's belly. He picked up the fork and started pushing his food back and forth on the plate. "Not unless it was recently created, I don't think so. Have any of your customers spoken of a boy around here?"

"A human? In the Digital World? Why, Gallantmon, I've heard that you're rather friendly around the beasts, but I thought that you would know: Humans _never_ come to the Digital World. That first time was an accident." Aurumon's eyes scrunched beneath his goggles. "You're a strange one, Gallantmon."

"Um… thanks? I think? But you haven't heard any stories or anything? Please, it's important. Just of one boy. He has bright red eyes and light brown hair. Are you sure? Think of _everything_ from the past two years."

"Everyhting? Well, that's a lot of stories… alright. Hmm… I seem to remember something about a kid… don't know what…. Oh wait, that was from a DemiDevimon, and those things, they lie through their teeth like no tomorrow. Bastard even left without paying… hmm… no, I've got nothing. Sorry."

"What? No, there must have been something!" exclaimed Gallantmon, setting his fork down. His stomach grumbled uncomfortably.

Aurumon sighed but shook his head. He hopped down and flapped his wings. "Sorry, Gallantmon, but that's all. Ask around a little more, I'm sure you'll find this story of yours. Enjoy your meal."

The usually friendly owl digimon flew away, grumbling under his breath.

Gallantmon sighed, giving in to his urge to eat, and started on his meal, golden eyes narrowed cautiously. After all… 'now what do I do?'

He finished his meal and returned the dishes, paying at the front. A Wormmon took the money and smiled at him, setting it in the register. "Have a good mission!"

…As though that was reassuring.

The village was tiny compared to Drasilya. Though it was nothing like the Sand Dune Village in the Digi Desert (as his friends had so aptly named it) that the Chuchidarumon lived in, it was about that size. This one held digimon of all types. Refugees stopped here to rest, taking the services offered by digimon like Aurumon and Swanmon, the local nurse. The teacher Lekismon taught anyone who she deemed needed to be taught, who was basically everyone. Actually, Omnimon and he had come here to try and stop the refugee-housing village. They'd reported it stopped, but neither he nor Omnimon could see the poor digimon torn from their new families.

The rubbed his gauntlets together, relaxing upon the soothing touch that his armor gave him. It reminded him of the first time that he'd Biomerged. More importantly, it reminded him of Takato.

…Which could technically be placed in the same category, technically. He couldn't Biomerge without Takato!

He started walking in no obvious direction, but soon enough the tiny, slightly rundown school came into view, and Gallanton spotted Lekismon standing above a few In-Training digimon, scolding them. He watched on in amusement.

"You could have gotten yourself hurt! Or worse yet, deleted! What are you thinking? What would your Swanmon have to say?" she demanded.

"Sorry?" offered a little Budmon, her spikes poiking out nervously.

"You may be, but I'm not." Replied one Missimon, crossing his arms.

Gallantmon felt his eyebrows rise. He walked forward to offer the young teacher assistance. "Lekismon? Perhaps I can help?"

Lekismon looked up and smiled at him. "…Gallantmon, right? There's no need, these little ones just aren't listening. They painted all over the faces of some of the village elders during naptime. I still haven't gotten it all off of everyone." She said.

Gallanmton laughed to himself, tring to not encourage the children with it. "Now, why ever would they do that?" he asked, peering down at the two.

Missimon grinned, Budmon offered a tiny smile. "Because the elders are always so mean!"

"They're just grumpy because they're old. And they know more than you. If you want to get anywhere, I'd recommend gaining their favor. Though judging by how it turned out, I don't think that you'll get _anywhere_." Gallantmon commented.

Missimon snorted. "Where could we go that we'd need an _elder_?" he asked.

"Well… what do you want to do?"

"_I_ want to be a Royal Knight! 'Cept I don't think I can, I don't digivolve into any Exalted Knights. That's what it takes right? I'm gonna be _like_ a Royal Knight, then!"

Gallantmon chuckled a little. "You can't be like a Royal Knight if digimon don't trust you. And if the elders trust you, then other digimon will trust you. It goes hand in hand." He explained.

Missimon narrowed his eyes. He looked down at his claws. "…Okay! I'm going to go apologize. C'mon Budmon, let's go! We'll be back soon, Lekismon!" he cried, turning around to head toward the town. Budmon gave a confused look, but followed nonetheless.

Lekismon turned to look at him, shocked. "You really need all that to become a Royal Knight?" she asked.

Gallantmon snorted. "Pfft, I don't know! But it certainly seemed to work, didn't it?"

Lekismon blinked once, then twice. Her shoulders started shaking as she started laughing. "Yes, yes it did, Gallanton. Yes it did…"


	5. Chapter 5

REWRITE

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><p>Besides Aurumon and the elders, who had nothing to tell him in the way of his Tamer's whereabouts, the town may as well have been empty. Swanmon was away, helping a few parent digimon hatch their eggs, and the other residents were either asleep, in school, or away. Wasn't there anything in the little town?<p>

Well, there wasn't, so he left the small town, not expecting anything to come up by way of help. He turned into the endless desert, and found himself headed in a recognizable direction… Sand Dune Village, here comes Gallantmon!

Meanwhile, in the apartment of one Tai Kamiya, 12 teens gathered. In a dimension entirely different from Gallantmon's home dimension, they sat spread out in the room. Izzy was seated in a spinny chair at the computer, while Sora and Tai were seated comfortably on the bed. On Kari's bed, Matt and Mimi were. Matt's arm was around her waist. He was shaking a little.

Davis was leaning back against the desk, next to Izzy, looking as bored as ever, and Yolei and Ken were by him, holding hands. TK and Kari were on the other side of the room, practically asleep against each other. Joe and Cody were sitting against opposite walls, waiting anxiously for the news.

"Well? Did you get anything?"

Izzy sighed in frustration. This was the eighth time in half as many minutes that Tai'd asked him the annoying question. "The answer's still no. Gennai's searching for you." He settled his hand on Tentomon's hard shell, feeling the comforting shell happily, glad that his partner was by his side. Around the room, he noticed the others petting their respective digimon… everyone besides Tai, Matt, and Davis.

Five years ago, the three DigiDestineds' digimon went missing. They just disappeared, basically out of nowhere. Once a month, the Destined gathered to chat with Gennai and try to find the missing friends. And it always ended the same, with complete and utter failure. Yet, it gave the others a sort of satisfaction. They finally had one over on the three. _They_ had their digimon.

Tai snarled to himself and fisted his hair. He felt Sora lean into him. "You guys, don't you get it? What if an evil digimon attack Earth or Digiworld now? Agumon, Gabumon, and Veemon _must_ be found! Why aren't you all doing anything about it?" he demanded.

Sora clutched her free hand around Biyomon so tightly that the poor little bird almost couldn't breathe. "Look, Tai, you and I and the rest of us know that nothing will attack. We took care of them, remember?"

"That's what we thought the first time." Tai replied almost snootily. He crossed his arms. "You're just saying that because you _have_ your digimon now. You don't _have_ to worry if they're alive or not, because you wake up and they're there."

"Watch your attitude." Sora growled back. She crossed her arms.

Matt glanced at his friends arguing and sighed. "It doesn't matter, though. If anything attacks, I mean. If Biyomon went missing, wouldn't you give your life to find her?"

"Of course I—"

"I rest my case."

Mimi sighed and nodded in agreement, her arms tight around her little plant of a digimon. "We would, you guys. We're not being fair."

"Do you guys honestly think that we're not worried about them as well?" asked Yolei, glancing at an entirely tranquil Davis.

Suddenly, the maroon-haired boy snapped into action. "Well, it certainly sounds like you're _not_!" he said, almost jumping to his feet.

Yolei turned and glared at him. "What makes you think that?" she snarled.

"Well, you're sitting around acting like nothing in the world has gone wrong when Veemon, Agumon, and Gabumon are all alone waiting for us to save them!" Davis rounded on his friend.

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"You heard me!"

"Both of you… SHUT UP!" Kari had finally snapped to attentiveness. Her strawberry eyes glowed with anger, but she was only cranky because she was tired. She turned to Davis. "Davis, we _do_ care. We're doing what we can. We _are_. And if we _could_ go to the Digital World, we would. But we can't. Yolei, raising your voice isn't helping anyone. So please stop. You're all annoying."

"Ouch." TK snickered; still practically asleep, gorgeous ocean eyes barely cracked open to watch them.

Yolei scoffed and turned to bury her soft face into Ken's powerful shoulder.

Among the commotion, Izzy started typing frantically, eyes wide with some kind of emotion. Tai figured that it could be fright, excitement, horror… anything. He stopped and set one hand on the desk and the other on the back of the chair. "What is it, Iz?" he asked.

Izzy bit his tongue. "At the moment, nothing," he said, releasing the powerful muscle. "Gennai just sent me an e-mail…mostly saying good luck, but _finally_ there may be someone who can help us… it might be a way to bring them back! And he sent a link with it!"

Matt and Davis both went to him, surrounding the teen. "R-really? How so?" Matt asked.

"I'm not sure. But Gennai mentioned a group of digimon… the Royal Knights. They're basically like the army… a 13-man army. But he says that they may be able to help us… if we can find them."

"So? We _must_ find them!" Davis exclaimed, clasping his hands together at the thought of finding his beloved partner.

"So to find them we'd have to go to some city in somewhere called the 'Southern Quadrant'."

"I didn't know that the Digital World had quadrants." Commented Ken curiously.

"Yeah, neither did I. Anyway, this city is especially well guarded—constantly by one of the Royal Knights—and then we'd have to talk to their leader, some guy called King Drasil. Apparently, he doesn't like humans."

"So basically—"

"Yeah. We're screwed."

* * *

><p>"Tai, you don't have to do this." Kari whispered, her red eyes half-lidded as she stared at her brother's back. Tai stood before the computer, a pack on his back, his goggles set on his head comfortably. He was in a blue shirt with a star on the shoulder and a pair of khaki shorts. He had a pair of blue wrist bands on. He cracked his knuckles and turned to look at Kari, thick eyebrows raised humorlessly. "Kari, you know that I do. I have to know what happened to Agumon. I have to find the Royal Knights."<p>

"But it's dangerous! None of you have your digimon! That King Drasil guy _hates_ humans! Izzy said so! Who do you think is going to protect you? At least let someone go with you…" Kari pouted.

Tai sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kari-bear, but this is our mission. We'll figure it out… somehow."

Kari humped and crossed her arms. "Well, don't let your big, fat egos get in the way!" she growled, stomping away from her brother. She sighed and her arms dropped back. She glanced back at Tai. "How will you figure it out?" she asked.

Tai shrugged. He pulled his sister to him and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry too much. We may not be the next Bill Gates, but we're not stupid either. We'll survive and come home, Agumon, Gabumon, and Veemon in tow. Promise."

Kari wrapped her arms tight around his neck. "Give a call if you run into trouble. We _can_ help you, whether you think so or not." She murmured into his collarbone.

"I know, but like I said, this is our mission. Look, we'll find these Royal Knight guys, and maybe we can get one to help us. Maybe. We'll definitely try. I mean, they can't _all_ hate humans. They're knights!"

Kari giggled and rubbed her face against his soft blue shirt, wiping away gathering tears. "You trust people too much, nii-chan. Maybe you should work on that."

Tai laughed and lifted her, his arms still tight around her thin waist. He kissed her head again. "I'll call you whenever I can to let you know how things are coming." He assured. He pulled away from her and smiled.

"You'd better." Kari mock-threatened.

Tai grinned and nodded. He glanced up to see Matt in tearful embrace with his younger brother. Well… TK was the tearful one, while Matt was holding him, whispering reassuring purrs into his ear. Further away—but not by much, Davis offered his sister reassuring chants that he'd be fine. He blushed when she pecked him on the cheek in embarrassment but offered up a quick hug as payment. "Come on, you guys, time to go."

Matt looked at him, frowned, and nodded. He ruffled TK's hair and snatched away his hat playfully.

"Hey!"

Kari leaned against her brother and giggled. She looked up at him. "I'll take care of everything, onii-san. I promise." She purred.

"I know you will, Kari-bear." He softly pushed her off and turned to see Davis waiting by the computer in the computer room. Matt ruffled his brother's hair one last time and went to stand at Davis' side. "Ready Tai? We should probably get going." He said.

Tai nodded and squeezed Kari's shoulder. "I'll call you when we need the gate reopened. Talk to you later." He stepped to his friends.

Davis held his D-3 up to the computer screen, and it reacted, sucking them all in.

Kari stood just past the Digiworld's pull, tears in her eyes. She turned against TK as he approached her, clutching her brother's goggles tightly. "Time to go. Come on." TK purred. Jun offered them a ride home.

When Tai and the others got there, they were expecting a beautiful landscape, like when they'd first landed. With trees and rolling hills of green with gorgeous blue skies up ahead and the sun bouncing its rays off of their skin softly, giving off an air of complete safety.

"…What the hell happened?"


	6. Chapter 6

REWRITE

So... I have a question that I would like as many people to answer as possible... is this story bad? Is there something wrong about it? I think that it's way better than the original but... what? No one else thinks so? I would just like to understand why no one is really reviewing? Is there anything about this story that needs working on? I'd love to know... so please let me know! And sorry that it's late...

AND GUESS WHAT! For once, I like the ending ;D

* * *

><p>Omnimon slammed closed the door to his quarters, looking around the already barren place. He sighed and kicked to the side a piece of trash on the floor. He went to sit on his bed, leaned back on it, and sighed. He hadn't seen Gallantmon in almost a month; he'd been missing for <em>that long<em>. It felt like years. He rested his hands behind his head and frowned deeply, blue eyes deep.

The mission hadn't been rough or anything. No, it was easy. He supposed that was really set him off was that he'd gone to see the King afterward and had spotted Takato.

He looked like he needed some serious medical attention. He'd die without it. How long had he been like that? Years, literally! Two of them, and it certainly wasn't doing the kid any good. Would King Drasil ever let him be? Would he ever allow him to be his own person, to be among his own kind? Somehow, Omnimon strongly doubted it.

Flashback

Omnimon's jaw dropped as the Majiramon roughly laid the child on the ground before King Drasil's royal pedestal. "Wh…what is this?" he demanded, noticing that the boy had broken into a fierce sweat. Blood rushed from his stomach and his arm looked oddly shaped. "What _happened_?"

"Oh nothing. Merely a little mishap. The child didn't _have_ to run."

"But you definitely meant to take him, didn't you? What use could a _child_ be? A _human child_! I hope you realize that this is pathetic… whatever could have caused you to do this, there must have been something else! Nothing could cause such an extreme… _why_?" Omnimon asked.

The boy was starting to pant. Omnimon couldn't tell if he was unconscious or not, but if he wasn't, he must have been suffering.

"Now, that's not quite your business, is it?" King Drasil sneered. He released the Majiramon and slid up to his pedestal.

"Well…"

"It's not. Omnimon, this is treason, the way that you are acting. Just trust that your king knows what he's doing, alright? I've got everything under control."

"Everything under control means having a bleeding child on your floor? I wonder how you came to _that_ conclusion!" Omnimon snarled. He went to the child and stooped before him. "He belongs in a healing place, not here, my Lord. How is he to get better?" Omnimon slid his arms beneath the boy and pulled him against him. The boy winced and gasped in pain. Hmm, not unconscious. But suffering. Probably going through hell.

"What in limbo are you _doing_ Omnimon?"

"I'll bring him back to his world on my own if I must. To a healing place. He's only a child! No In-Training or Rookie digimon deserves this, and certainly no human! Not at this age!"

"You will do no such thing, or you and the human dies, and Craniamon becomes the new leader!" snarled King Drasil. A Gryphonmon and a Zanbamon quickly went forward to block the door. Omnimon spun and glared at them. He glanced over at King Drasil. "Craniamon's the brains of the operation, he would make no leader." He growled.

King Drasil gave off an expression of annoyance and ordered one of the other Megas forward. A TigerVespamon basically plucked the boy from Omnimon's arms and went to drop him in a cage surrounded by Apemon. The Apemon started to get antsy, apparently wanting the child. The boy gasped in pain and attempted to move to comfort his aching abdomen, though it didn't seem to be possible.

"I don't understand. Why do you need a human?" Omnimon asked, watching the child as the cage door slammed shut. Both he and the boy winced roughly.

"You'll understand in due time, my knight. Not more than a month, I can imagine. How wonderful this will be. Now, leave my presence Omnimon. Whatever you wanted shall wait, for my army and I need to think."

End

Omnimon napped. It was a good nap, he decided as he woke up. Very refreshing. He stretched his arms above his head and stood from his bed, peering out of the window toward the midday sun. He left his room with nothing on his mind.

"Omnimon! Yes, my Sir!" exclaimed Magnamon, hopping out of his room a few doors down the hall and throwing up his hand in greeting.

Omnimon paused. "What is it Magnamon?" he asked.

"My sir, the King wants to speak with you." Magnamon said as Omnimon continued walking.

"What about, do you know?" Omnimon asked.

"A new mission is what I've heard. That's all. But you should probably go. He sounded upset."

Omnimon went to his boss' throne room and stood before the pedestal, glancing to his right to see Takato's currently unconscious body. He couldn't tell if the boy had been knocked out or if he'd just been sleeping…

"Omnimon? Have you found Gallantmon yet?"

Omnimon blinked and refocused his eyes on the pedestal, where King Drasil now floated above. 'Better not tell him that I haven't been looking…' "No, sir. We're doing all that we can to find him. Well, I am. I'm the only one who really knows where he might go. So I've been searching."

King Drasil scrutinized him, and then sighed. "Fine. I'll trust that you're telling the truth." He said fiercely. Then he turned to glance at his army, then back at the leader of the Royal Knights. "If I may ask, Omnimon, why didn't you stop him?"

'Kuso!' "Sir, with all due respect, a brick wall and your whole Mega army couldn't stop Gallantmon with an idea in his head. We all know that." Omnimon quickly spoke the well-thought-through lie. He crossed his arms and turned blue eyes upon the army as well. "Not even an army twice this size. Let alone me on my own."

"And you told him of the punishment? Should he ever return, it's doubtful that he'll ever be able to rejoin the Royal Knights."

"I told him everything." Omnimon bobbed his head in submission. '_Doubtful that he'll ever be able to rejoin_, my data! You'll kill him first! But then what will happen to the boy?'

"Good. Your mission is to go into the Northern Quadrant and search for him. Do not return without some kind of clue." Said King Drasil darkly.

"Y…yes sir. I shall go pack my things then?"

"Yes. I shall send a Rinkmon should I need, but that's doubtful, with my Knights all around me." King Drasil levitated a bit higher, as though lifting his chin.

Omnimon saluted the mystical leader and nodded, turning to go outside. He spared one more glance at Takato and left. As soon as the door was shut and he was outside the throne room, he headed toward his chambers once more, growling, "They're not your Knights. They're _mine_."


	7. Chapter 7

REWRITE

The Digi-Desert was a rough and dangerous place for anyone to be, humans especially. Gallantmon didn't know why he was searching here, besides that perhaps Takato had come here because he knew the Chuchidarumon.

Though as much as Gallantmon wanted it to be true, it couldn't be, because even if he'd attempted to come here, he'd have died in the desert, considering all of the blood that had been on the ground.

His feet scuffed as he trod upon a particularly large rock. He glanced up to see its full height, and leapt to the top.

The rock was enormous, it made Gallantmon feel as though he could see forever, as childish as the notion was. He stretched as he peered around, golden eyes looking into the sand-covered ground and the sand that the wind was blowing around. His cape blew in front of him with the force of the wind. Hmm… there did seem to be quite a bit of sand in the Digi-Desert.

'Wonder why…' Gallantmon thought sarcastically, grumbling at his own stupidity. He looked ahead to find his destination… ah yes. There it was. The small homes in the sand that looked like sand dunes or rocks… the Village of Discarded Data, otherwise known as the Chuchidarumon Village. He hopped down from the rock and took off in that general direction.

At that moment, he decided that it'd be nice to fly. His feet were starting to hurt and the desert heat was starting to get to him. Sovereigns, how nice it would be to fly. Which would mean having Grani with him. Maybe then he could go Crimson Mode! Now that he thought about it… Sovereigns, how nice would it be to have Grani? Or Takato?

The village was listless. No one was out or even around it, not that Gallantmon could see. And while he did not have the best vision, he did consider it to be pretty damn good.

He couldn't feel it, that feeling of a heartbeat that he had started to associate with home. He'd felt it when he was with Takato, and he'd felt it in Drasilya, but he couldn't feel it here. Most likely, Takato wasn't here.

_Most likely, Takato's not anywhere._

Gallantmon shook his head and peered down at his right hand, where his trusted Gram could spring from. His head whipped up in surprise and Gram shot forth from his hand as soon as he heard a voice cry, "Gallantmon!"

Surely no one was here to retrieve him. No, that couldn't happen. Not before he found Takato!

"Gallantmon, is it you? It is you! My, you haven't changed a bit, have you, my friend?"

Gallantmon's eyes fell out of focus as something _zoomed_ into his face, practically throwing him backwards. Then, they widened upon recognition. "Grani! What are you doing here?"

Well, speak of the devil!

Grani laughed and shook his head. "Gallantmon, this is the Village of Discarded Data. That's all that I am, my friend. Or perhaps you do not remember? My data had to be reconfigured in limbo, but then I was sent here. I have been living here, among the Chuchidarumon. How _are_ you two, anyway, Gallantmon?" Grani asked. He hovered around the white knight looking him over, apparently thinking that Takato was still with him.

"It's… it's only me, Grani. My Takato… my Takatomon's not with me. That's why I'm here; to try to find him. He's been missing for two years now." Gallantmon explained. Gram disintegrated back into his hand, and the limb dropped. He felt so childish, using that silly little nickname once more. Why, he hadn't used that since he'd joined with the Knights! But it felt right, just so _right_, that Gallantmon couldn't remember why he'd ever stopped using it in the first place.

Grani's blue eyes narrowed with confusion, but then they softened, realizing that Gallantmon wouldn't lie about something so important to him. "I'm…" what could he say? Sorry? "I… have you even found anything yet? Anything that might pinpoint where he is?" he asked softly.

"I only know that he's here, in the Digital World. I don't know where other than that. And the Digital World is a big place, Grani…"

Grani peered at him, wondering what could possibly have brought on the need to take away Gallantmon's boy. He hardened his resolve, growling, almost. "Gallantmon, wherever you need to go, I can bring you. Together, we will find Takato!" he exclaimed with a darkening voice and angry visage.

"Wh-what? Really?" Gallantmon stammered. Sure, it was what he wanted, but he didn't expect for it to come so readily.

"Really! Where are we headed, we must go straight away! Where have you been, where have you not been, is there any clues that you might have, anything!"

On the edges of Gallantmon's eyes, tears of joy sprung. He turned away from Grani, grinning beneath his mask. "The whole of the Royal Knights thank you, Grani. I'll be headed to the Eastern Quadrant soon, I guess, as I haven't looked there. I've only looked in the Southern Quadrant, actually." He said. As Grani hovered lower, he hopped onto the back of his trusted steed.

"Ready Grani. Let's go!"

* * *

><p>The southern part of the Eastern Quadrant was just as dusty as—if not even dustier than—the Southern Quadrant. In the 12 daylight hours, the sky burned red from the flying sand, and at night there was little to no light.<p>

Above, Gallantmon was flying on Grani rather lowly and slowly, scanning the ground for any sort of clue that could point them toward Takato.

He didn't know how long he'd been searching, but he did know that Grani had only been with him for a few days. It made him feel like searching would go faster now. Much faster, with Grani at his side.

"Slow down a little Grani." Gallantmon muttered, feeling himself nearly pull forward as Grani did so. His eyes scanned the ground for something, anything that would help.

A tinge of light, a flash from the desert sun, and Gallantmon's eyes widened. He felt something! "Grani, hang on!"

Immediately, Grani jerked to a halt, peering at his friend. "What is it, Gallantmon? Do you see something?"

"…No. But something's around here, I can feel it." Gallantmon said. Grani lowered to the ground and Gallantmon got off of him, searching for the flash that had caught his eyes.

…Again! There it was again! Gallantmon tore towards the glint in the sand, realizing with horror that some redder sand was staining the ground, obviously not naturally red, but something had stained it…

And with a scent of the air, Gallantmon knew what. "Blood! Human blood, it must be!" he cried semi-excitedly. What _other_ humans had been here? Who else's could it be but Takato's?

But, who _else's_ could it be? Gallantmon shuddered at the thought that this blood could be his Tamer's.

"What did you say?" asked Grani, coming to his side.

Gallantmon's golden eyes caught the smallest bit of some kind of writing, so he stooped to brush away the bloody sand. A ring of digi-code inscribed on a yellow circle… surrounded by white… Gallantmon pulled the strange thing out of the sand, shaking any loose particles off.

A fizzing D-Power was the strange device in the sand. It crackled from exposure, and the screen looked a little worse for wear, but it still worked. At least, the flashing screen said that it still worked. Gallantmon's jaw dropped as soon as he recognized the machine, and he held it much tighter, with so much more care, as though it were fragile.

"What is that, friend?" Grani asked, glancing over his shoulder at the machine.

"It's… it's Takato's D-Power! How did it get _here_? And with all of this blood… oh…" Gallantmon set a hand over his stomach, sickened at the thought of what could have caused all of this blood. Then, he moved his hand to brush his fingers along the crack on the screen.

Somehow, the D-Power recognized him because the flashing light steadied until it became an ominous glow. As though recognizing a digimon, it projected a hologram to hover above the machine, the word "transmission" lining the edge. Then, it spoke.

"Guilmon… it's me. Takato, I mean. God, I hope you found this, rather than someone else. I know that you could help. I've no idea what happened really. But I was attacked. By a Majiramon. This one was different, its eyes were different and it wouldn't talk to me. It didn't explain what was going on. It brought me here, to the Digital World, but wherever you found this is not where I am. I have to drop this or the Majiramon will take it from me. I'm scared, Guilmon. I don't know if I'll survive this, I don't know what this guy wants from me, and I don't know how long I have. I want to go home, before anything worse happens to me. Please? I know that Mom and Dad are worried about me. I'm worried about them, too. I hope that I'm not expecting too much from you, Guilmon. I know that you get distracted easily, and I know that you're still so young but… I'm just so scared… I don't know what to do. Please bring me home, Guilmon, wherever I am. God, _please bring me back._"

Gallantmon's eyes widened, his fist tightening on the machine in his hand. He squeezed his eyes shut briefly and breathed in a shuddering breath. Then, he attempted a smile, turning up to Grani.

Grani's eyes were pained, watching his friend. "Gallantmon? Should we go? Takato did say that he wasn't here." He breathed. He hovered low enough for Gallantmon to climb on.

After a second, Gallantmon did climb onto Grani, and the steed started forward, glancing back toward the knight.

Gallantmon shook his head, reading his thoughts. "I'm fine, Grani. Just a little shocked, I guess. Worried, too. Do you think he's dead?" he asked.

Grani immediately disagreed. "Of course he's not! Takato's too strong for that!" he cried.

Gallantmon reached back and unfastened one corner of his cape, hooking the strap onto it and refastening it. "I used to think that he was too strong for a lot of things."

"Look, Gallantmon, he's still a kid. Things happen to him. But he's strong, he'll fight it. I'm sure. You'll find him, bring him back, and save his life."

"How are you so sure?" Gallantmon peered down at his friend.

"Because I know you two well enough. He's just not the kind of kid that's gonna go and die on us. And besides, you'd be able to tell if Takato were dead, wouldn't you? You can tell when he's hurt."

"Well—"

"Do you want him to be dead?" asked Grani.

"Of course not!"

"Then stop acting like you do! Just have a little faith in him…"

"…I'm trying, let me tell you that. What I don't understand is who would want to kidnap a kid, and why the limbo would they want to?"

"He did mention a Majiramon."

"But why would a Majiramon want to?" Gallantmon demanded.

Grani shook his head. "Who knows. Some digimon are _strange_."

Gallantmon nodded in agreement. "I know, I guess. Well, there's no use moping, I suppose. We'd better go. He's not around here."

"Let me know when you want to stop."

'"_Guilmon, I trust in you." "Will we play again, Takatomon?" "Yeah, I promise, Guilmon. We'll play again. Goodbye!" "Goodbye Takatomon! Remember, you promised!" "I'll keep that promise, I swear!"'_

The white Royal Knight dropped his gaze to the ground and watched it fly beneath him. He felt like he'd let his partner down, like he hadn't kept up his end of the bargain. Was there even a bargain? Is that even what had been exchanged? He didn't know, couldn't remember. His yellow eyes caught the shine off of the D-Power again, and he suddenly grinned.

After all, with this, they were one step closer to Takato. With the D-Power, they were one step closer to going home.

And that's all that mattered.


	8. Chapter 8

REWRITE

With grass stains on her knees and her hair a mess from the fall wind, Mie released a deep, frustrated sigh and set her folded hands on her knees. She shifted, letting her legs go to one side of her.

It'd been two years and three months since Takato's disappearance. Her boy had yet to be found, had yet to even have a clue pointed towards his whereabouts. "Baby? Baby, it's your momma. Where are you? Who took you? Are you alright?" Mie waited for something, anything, to answer her, but unsurprisingly, nothing came. Her fingers loosened and she started picking at the grass like a child.

Not that she'd expected an answer or anything.

"Honey, I think that if he could answer that, we'd have found him by now."

Mie started and looked backwards to see her husband standing behind her, all smiles and tousled brown hair. She offered him a smile as he dropped to the ground beside her. "I know that. But it's worth a shot." She whispered.

Takehiro drew his wife into a tight embrace and she leaned her head against his shoulder. "Of course it is, hon." He said, pressing his lips to the top of her head.

"Maybe… if we pray _really hard_ he'll answer." Mie whispered childishly into his shoulder.

"Maybe." Takehiro agreed softly.

Mie clenched her hands tightly and closed her eyes. "Please let someone find my baby boy, or some kind of clue about him, and let them bring him back home. Amen." She murmured.

"Except Renamon. She's already been helpful." Said Takehiro.

Mie nodded. "Right. Except for Renamon. Let Guilmon find him, I think that they'd both like that. Amen."

* * *

><p>Wanyamon purred loudly against his Tamer, who sniffled into his fur. The girl had just finished a severe bout of crying after going to the Matsuki's bakery. They'd greeted her so warmly and kindly when they had every right to be <em>so <em>_angry with her_. It made her feel sick, almost. That they could stay so cheerful through everything.

"It's not your fault, Jeri." Repeated Wanyamon for about the thousandth time.

"But it," she hiccupped suddenly, nearly throwing her off balance, "is! I should have rea," another hiccup, "lized that something w-was wr," yet another one, "wrong!"

Wanyamon swiped his tail across her face caringly, stroking her soft skin. "How were you to know? I'm sure that if Takato had known that something like that would happen, then he'd have told you that something was wrong." He said.

"It _wasn__'__t Takato's fault_!" Jeri screeched, burying her face back into Wanyamon's fur.

"I'm not saying that it was! Ooh, stop twisting my words around!" he squealed. He fluffed up his fur. He hopped from her grasp and looked at her. "Jeri, look at me! Sitting here moping isn't going to get us any closer to finding him, now is it? Why sit here and cry when we can go out and do something?" he demanded.

"What can we do, Wanyamon! What can we do when two years has done nothing?" Jeri cried. She turned away from her digimon and lowered herself from her bed to the floor.

"You're not just going to give _up_, are you?" Wanyamon breathed, peering down at the girl.

Jeri kicked one foot and looked down at her D-Power. She clicked into the menu and went to the "locate" feature that the Monster Makers had installed not long after the D-Reaper incident. On the screen appeared 7 glowing dots, each the same color of the D-Powers. Henry was at home, Rika was walking around her block, Ryo was at the park nearest his house, Kazu and Kenta were both at Kenta's house, though their transmission was being interfered a bit, Suzie was at her friend's house, and Ai and Mako were camping with their parents.

Of course, Takato's dot was nowhere to be found. Even if he'd been taken to some other country, it'd show a golden dot flashing off to the far regions of the screen with an arrow pointing in that direction, to say that he was farther away. Even if he was _dead_ it would still be there.

So why did it never show up?

The only logical explanation was, of course, the one that Renamon had proposed. That somehow, both he and the D-Power had been taken to the Digital World.

"Jeri?"

"I don't know, okay? Nothing adds up, _nothing._ How did Takato go missing? Where did he go? And what _could_ we do, even if we were certain that he's in the Digital World? How would we get there?"

Wanyamon sighed and flicked his tail toward center Shinjuku, where the Hypnos towers stood tall and proud. "What else can we do?" he asked with an almost cocky attitude.

"But we've already asked Yamaki several times! He won't let us go! You know that, you were there every time!"

"So why not ask one more time?"

"Haven't _you_ ever been afraid of being rejected?" Jeri whimpered. She set her face in her hands and shook her head roughly. "I guess that I don't know what to do. I don't know what I'll do if Yamaki says 'no' again. I know that he's just watching out for us, and it's really sweet and all, but…" she sighed. "I don't know."

"You can't always know what to do Jeri. You're gonna have to jump into the deep end head first one of these days." Wanyamon whispered rather intelligently. He hopped down from the bed to land comfortably beside her.

Jeri peered down at him. "I know. I just don't think that I can yet."

Wanyamon sighed, seeing frettiness. He chose to change the subject quickly. "So, why aren't Kazu and Kenta talking to us anymore?" he asked.

Jeri sighed and he suddenly laughed. "Why? It's the stupidest reason _ever_." She admitted. Her arms found their way around her legs.

"What is it?" it wasn't as if Wanyamon didn't already know. But anything to keep her from her depressing attitude.

"You know how weird they can be. It… it was Kazu's idea in the first place! And you know how Kenta is, basically goes along with the anything that Kazu says. Kazu said that… that if he thought that Takato could just leave us like that, we have the right to leave him, and it wouldn't matter, it wouldn't be any different! And like I said, you know Kenta…"

Wanyamon nodded in agreement, cuddling his head against her thigh. "Then they're stupid! Kazu and Kenta are stupid!" he decided loudly.

Jeri watched him for a second, and suddenly smiled. She picked him up and hugged him tightly. "Yes they are, Wanyamon. Yes they are."

* * *

><p>Rika glanced down into the hole in Guilmon's hut, her hands tucked into her pockets and Viximon on her lap. She was waiting for the tiniest sign, even the sparkle of a newly-forming gate would be wonderful news.<p>

_Anything_, as long as it meant not going into the Matsuki Bakery and seeing Mie and Takehiro's smiling faces, waiting for her to tell them that something had been found. That _anything_ had been found. She leaned back against the concrete to listen to the conversation that Jeri and Henry were involved in.

"Look, _maybe_ we can change their minds!"

"Kazu's just as stubborn as Takato, you know that! We aren't going to just _change__his mind_!"

"But if we do, then that'll be _two__more_ people going to the Digital World! _Two__more_! That's six, out of the eight that went last time! In fact, when we _went_ last time, only you, me, Rika, Takato, and Ryo already had our digimon! Last time we had no idea what to do! This time, we do! This time we can _convince_ him!"

"There won't be a _this__time_! You know that! Yamaki won't let us go, not even _if_ Kazu and Kenta chose to go with us!" Henry was trying desperately to show Jeri some reason, but the girl was dead set on convincing the two boys. "We're putting too much at risk!"

"No, we're not!"

"How _aren__'__t _we?"

"You two fight like a married couple." Ryo, on the opposite side of the hut, commented warmly.

"Do not!" both arguing teens turned to him, spitting like wild animals. Hopmon had to lean against Gummymon for all of his laughter. Gummymon shook his head, giggling wildly. "Momentai, Henry! What else could we do?" he asked.

Henry clenched his fists, turning to Rika for advice. Rika just shrugged. "He's got a point."

"Well… well, even if Yamaki agreed to let us go if Kazu and Kenta agreed to come with, what's to say we can get them to _come_? Hmm? At the moment, they hate anything to do with us." Henry said reasonably.

"Maybe if we beg them _pretty__please_ they'll listen."

"Pretty please?" Rika raised her eyebrows in amusement. "And you think that'll work." She concluded.

"Well… probably not, but it's something. I don't see _you__guys_ coming up with anything!" Jeri stamped her foot, turning to glare at Ryo.

Ryo put his hands up in defeat. "My only idea is to go talk to Yamaki but we've already tried that."

"So we're just going to _leave__him_?"

"Until we have a clue, yeah! What are we _supposed__to do_, Jeri? Do you really think that Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki would want us to put ourselves in so much danger?"

"Well no, because they're not those kind of people!"

"And how do you think they'd feel if we went to find him with _no__clue where he is_ and wound up dead? Hmm? Do you think that that'd make them happy, even _if_ we somehow found Takato and got him back?" Henry demanded.

"Well…"

"Exactly! Look, Jeri, I know what you're trying to do, and it's great that you're trying so hard to find him. It's effin wonderful, but at the moment there's nothing that we can do." Henry insisted rather darkly.

Jeri pulled her face taut and frowned. She turned away, towards the hole where the portal had been last time. "I know that. Okay? I know that. But that doesn't mean that I don't want to try. I just… I want my best friend back…" she whined.

Wanyamon's ears fell. He bounced up to cuddle against her leg. Rika even stood to hug her—though it was only a quick one. Jeri hugged her back tightly as both Ryo's and Henry's eyes softened.

"Jeri, listen… we _will_ get him back, you just have to give it time. It'll happen, but you have to pace it. It _can__'__t_ happen right now." Henry muttered solidly.

"I know…" Jeri nodded against Rika's shoulder.

"But it doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll get there eventually, and Takato won't die on us." Ryo said.

Once again, Jeri nodded.

Wanyamon sighed and jumped up to grab his Tamer's attention. "Jeri, can we go play? This is depressing you and the rest of us, and the park's right outside, so let's go!" he cried.

Jeri glanced down at him, and then at her friends. "I don't mind." "Sure, I guess." "Sounds like a plan!"

She smiled down at Wanyamon and released Rika. "Let's go then!"


	9. Chapter 9

REWRITE

A/N: Gallantmon will be referred to regularly the next time that we meet with them.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry, Omnimon, but we haven't seen him. I can ask around if you'd like."<p>

Omnimon quickly shook his head, blue eyes softening. "Not at all, Mikemon. Thank you for helping. I've got it from here." He said, stepping out of the parts shop belonging to the cat digimon. He ducked his head, setting his WarGreymon hand above his eyes. The light poured down, since there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He felt the grass swirling beneath his feet in the soft breeze. He stretched and continued walking in the town.

He didn't really expect for Gallantmon to be here. He was nearest the coast on the west side of the Northern Quadrant. The town was small but the digimon were friendly.

"Why don't you just go back to Drasilya now?"

At his side, a Turuiemon stood, watching him. The young bunny had offered to help back in Drasilya, apparently not expecting it to take several weeks. He stooped until he was looking the nimble fighter square in the eye. "You can always head back if you'd like." He muttered.

Turuiemon seemed to think it over, but subjected to a quick shake of the head. He snapped faithfully into a salute. "No, sir! As long as you are here, I shall remain. I'm just… wondering why we need to find Mister Gallantmon." He admitted, his paw falling back to his side.

"I'm not sure. The King wants me to find him, but I don't know why." Omnimon replied, standing once again to his full height.

Turuiemon hid from the sun in his shadow. "Well, where to now, sir?" he asked.

"Where to? Hmm, well I suppose that we'd better head east."

* * *

><p>Tai scuffed at the ground with his shoe, kicking up a massive amount of sand. He scowled darkly, brown eyes squinted to keep any flying particles from getting in his eyes. He sighed darkly. "What the hell could have happened that the Digital World ended up like this? This isn't normal!" he snarled.<p>

Davis nodded. "Yeah, the desert that Ken's base was in has got _nothing_ on this place!" he agreed.

"So what the _hell_ happened? I haven't seen a single patch of grass since we _got__here_!" Tai growled.

Matt sighed. "Calm down, Tai. I'm sure that there's a perfectly normal explanation for this." He said.

"Well go ahead and tell me, I'd love to know what it is!"

"Can't we just focus on finding the guys?" asked Davis quietly, acting very much unlike Davis.

Tai clenched his fist and breathed deeply. His visage melted at once. "Yeah. I guess we haven't got a choice." He said. He shoved his hands into his pockets, scuffing up sand once again.

"Tai, you know that they can take care of themselves." Matt said softly, ocean eyes squinting as well.

"No, we knew that they could take care of themselves in that other Digiworld. This one? It's digimon eat digimon around here! They're probably only Rookies! They've probably already been deleted! Does this place even have a Primary Village that they could go to? Maybe we should start there!"

"Tai, it's not digimon eat digimon. I'm sure that there are nice digimon around here, just like in our Digiworld." Matt rolled his eyes starkly.

"Pfft. Says you."

In that very instance, a large shadow fell over them. Instinctively, Tai went and covered Davis just in case of an air raid. He glanced at Matt to make sure that the teen was alright. Matt peered through his arms up at the sky as Tai let Davis up. "What kind of a digimon is that?" he asked.

"I don't know. Looks kick-ass though." Davis snickered in awe.

Both other teens nodded in agreement.

It was about then that they realized that it wasn't one digimon, but two. The smaller one looked like it moved a little, and then it turned around, coming…

STRAIGHT FOR THEM!

Tai shoved both boys behind him as the digimon came to a stop right before them. Two pairs of eyes scanned them. Tai gulped. "s-stay back. We c-can fight you!" he stammered. He could feel power radiating off of this digimon!

"With _what_?" the digimon asked. The one that was apparently flying scrutinized them. Tai pushed his friends backwards a few steps. The flying one chuckled. "You needn't be afraid of us." It said. The other one got off of it and crossed its arms. It looked them over. "Hmm… three humans…" it looked around, golden eyes wide with amusement. "And no digimon. Accident that you're here?" it asked.

"Accident? No! We're here on purpose!" Davis exclaimed. He gasped as Matt elbowed him.

"Whatever could you be here for?" the taller digimon asked, glaring at them.

"We're here to find our digimon!" Davis declared, this time dodging Matt's flying elbow.

"_Find_ your digimon? Look, just because a few kids got digimon doesn't mean that everyone gets them." Said the smaller digimon.

"We've already got our digimon! They went _missing_!" Tai immediately snarled defensively. "We're here to get them back! And we're not going home until we've got them!"

The tall digimon watched them for a few seconds longer, before it glanced up at its companion, asking it something silently. Then, it turned back to them. "Well, three humans lost in the Digital World with no protection will do us no good. Having one is already bad enough. You may travel with me."

"P-pardon?" Matt snorted almost angrily. He crossed his arms. "We don't even know who you are, and you didn't even bother to figure out whether or not we _want_ to come with you!" he said.

The knight raised its eyebrows. "Well, there may be a few but unfortunately there aren't many nice digimon around here, even less who would like humans at all. Good luck finding someone else. And besides, you may be some help to me, as well as me to you." It said.

Davis rolled his eyes but dug into his back pocket, retrieving his D-3. He pointed it at the tall digimon to get a reading, but the screen showed a question mark with the word 'unreadable' printed beneath it.

The digimon seemed to take notice of this, for it chuckled. Suddenly, it dipped into a deep bow, its right hand reaching back to grab the right corner of its cape and swing it around to cover its front. "You may call me Gallantmon. I am an Exalted Knight of the Royal Knights, and am at the moment on a personal mission for my own human. And this is my faithful friend Grani."

The strange small digimon nodded at them, peering at Gallantmon with a confused look.

Gallantmon merely waved it off, standing once again to its full height. Then, it spun around as though to lead them away. "Come along, humans, we are headed towards one of the most populated cities in the entire Eastern Quadrant. You may tell me about yourselves on the way, anything that I might need to know to help you further your… quest."

Tai scowled but relaxed, realizing that at least the strange digimon didn't want to attack them. He followed the exuberant knight slowly, and Matt and Davis did as well.

Davis caught up to him and muttered, "well, if anything, at least he's a Royal Knight. He _did_ mention that, didn't he? And that's who we were supposed to look for. Right?"

"Mhmm. Izzy said so. I'm just… not sure about this guy. You know?" Tai replied darkly.

Matt nodded beside him. "This can't be mere coincidence." He agreed.

"I'm not _deaf_ you know."

All three boys jumped and turned to glare at Gallantmon, who seemed to grin and turn around to walk backwards. It glanced back at Grani. "How long until Azulong?" it asked the flying digimon.

Grani shrugged. "Probably a day's walk, if we walk _fast_. A day and a half to two days if we keep the pace." It replied.

"We can keep the pace." Gallantmon decided robustly. It watched the boys, apparently not needing to watch where it was going.

"Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?" Matt asked, one eyebrow raised quizzically.

"No. Do I look like a mother?" asked Gallantmon innocently. "Grani will warn my if something needs to draw my attention. Am I right, friend?" its golden eyes glanced to the left to see Grani, who replied with, "of course!" "Might I ask your names?"

"You can _ask_ all you want…" Tai grumbled.

"I'm Davis, this is Matt, and that grumpy kid's Tai." Davis said brightly.

"_Davis_!"

"what?"

Gallantmon chuckled heartily. "So it seems. What digimon are you looking for? And I can assure you, you can trust me. I don't want to hurt you and I will _never_ want to hurt you. Humans are my friends, I've lived in the human world for a half a year or more a few years back, and I'm currently searching for my own."

Tai crossed his arms for a second, but they dropped, "you know, just because a few digimon get a human doesn't mean that everyone does."

Gallantmon released a loud laugh, making Davis wince in surprise. "No, no, like you I already had one. He's just… missing." It replied darkly, dropping its gaze to the sand.

Matt smiled a little. "Well… thanks then. We're looking for a Gabumon, an Agumon, and a Veemon. Although if Gennai couldn't find them, I doubt that you'd have."

Gallantmon replied with a shrug. "If they were deleted then Grani probably does. Grani?"

"No idea. Not many of those kinds come around ever, and most discarded data becomes Chuchidarumon anyway." Grani replied, flying low and swerving a little.

"Well, that's all I know." Gallantmon spun around, tucking its hands behind its head. "Now then, on to Azulong!"

Davis shoved his hands in his pockets, attempting to catch up to his mentor as the older brunette hurried to stay in pace with the two digimon. "Hey, uh, Gallantmon, right?"

"Mhmm. Virus. Royal Knight. Bearer of the Hazard Symbol. All that stuff. Why?"

"You mentioned that you had your own human. Why would he be here?" Tai asked, reading the younger's mind.

"…He was attacked and taken two years ago. A friend of mine found some excess data around the blood of his that was left, so I came back here. I had meant to find him… if my Lord had given me a chance to."

"Your… Lord?"

"King Drasil. He staked claim over all of the Digital World, essentially, and has been improving it for years now."

'Ah… it all makes sense now…' Matt thought, scowling.

"Improving?" Tai glanced around him.

"So he claims." Replied the Knight irritably. It sighed and dropped its hands to its side. It glanced over at Grani, who gave it a fond expression and pressed closely to him.

Davis glanced at the two older boys, who were watching each other, practically reading the other's mind. After a five second staring contest, Tai turned away to look at the knight. "Is there any way that we can help? It'd be rude after you offered to help us, not to do the same in return."


	10. Chapter 10

REWRITE

Special thanks to: As usual, _Mcv_. I'm pretty sure that you're awesome. Thanks for sticking with me and making me think about all of these things! ;D As much as I hate thinking, you really make me wonder about how many gaps my plot has... thank you. :D

* * *

><p>Kapurimon bounced alongside his partner, who kicked at a few loose pebbles angrily, sending one flying up the sidewalk. He glanced up at the teenage Kazu, who huffed, his arms crossed and his dark eyes narrowed. "Kazu? Where are we going?" he asked anxiously, speeding up to keep pace with his Tamer. "Why are we all of the way over here?"<p>

Kazu didn't reply, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

Kapurimon looked around, for the chance to recognize where they were, maybe. He recognized the park that Kazu and Kenta liked taking him and MarineAngemon—well, used to, until a few weeks after Gigimon left—and if he squinted he thought that he might be able to recognize Guilmon's hut. Suddenly, a thought struck him. "Are we going to the Matsuki's bakery?"

"No!" Kazu snarled, whipping his head around to glare at his partner for just a second. Behind him, Kenta and MarineAngemon winced, as did Kapurimon.

Kenta shook his head, MarineAngemon moving with it. The little pink digimon pulled at the hair on his Tamer's head and giggled, making sure to keep his grip. He started chirping. "MarineAngemon's right, Kazu. If you're going to be mad at Takato, you don't have to be mad at his mom and dad. It's definitely not their fault that he's gone. They didn't want that." Kenta scolded softly, moving to catch up with his friend and heft Kapurimon up to his arms.

"Well I don't care. He's a Matsuki and so are they." Kazu replied. He took Kapurimon from Kenta and set him on his shoulder.

"You're being really immature about this, you know. There's no need to act like this," Kenta sighed.

"How am I being _immature_ about this?" Kazu turned on him, clenching his fists angrily. "Look, if he wanted to leave, that's okay! If he wanted to abandon us and leave Gigimon with no one to be with, that's fine. But I have every right to be mad about it!" he growled.

"No one else is. Everyone else is worried if he's okay." Kapurimon offered. He glanced up at Kazu.

"And it's not like he wanted to go. Didn't you see how much blood there was?" Kenta said.

"So? It wasn't from him. Gigimon was just desperate, that's why he smelled Takato." Kazu lifted his nose and continued on his way. He turned off into the park and dropped to the ground on a hill, feeling the sun warm his skin.

"No, he smelled Takato because that was Takato's blood. No one else's. If he'd been desperate, he'd have smelled someone else's."

"Just drop it, okay? It's my opinion, and I have a right to _my __opinion_!"

"But…" Kenta shook his head and crossed his arms. He, unlike Kazu, tried to keep in contact with the Matsuki's. "I'm going to go visit them. Do you want to come with?" asked Kenta, not of Kazu but of Kapurimon.

Kapurimon glanced down at Kazu, knowing that he was being asked. Kazu just scoffed but waved his hand dismissively. After that, Kapurimon threw himself into Kenta's arms, nodding roughly. "Let's go!"

Kenta nodded, waving. "I'll be back soon."

Kazu replied with a forceful grunt and a turning away of the head.

Kenta carried little Kapurimon, bouncing the furry little digimon happily. Above him, MarineAngemon chirped, bouncing along with him.

A five-minute walk later, Kenta pushed open the door, letting it _ding_ as it shoved open the rest of the way. A few customers in the cozy bakery glanced at him and nodded in approval, before turning back to their selections.

"Welcome!" came the fake cheerfulness of a stressed woman at the register. "Afternoon, Mrs. Matsuki. It's been going well?" Kenta replied kindly.

The woman looked straight at him and he noticed several gray hairs atop her head. She blinked and looked him over, obviously checking to see if any signs of her boy had been found yet. She frowned lightly, but then smiled encouragingly. "Kenta!"

* * *

><p>Takato curled around his broken arm and festering stomach, breathing roughly, his forehead wet with perspiration. He tried to ignore the Apemon around him, all howling to get his blood, he was sure of it… He groaned just at the very thought, tucking further against himself.<p>

A Majiramon with glowing silver eyes creeped on him from the other side of the cage door, eyes narrowed, fists clenching. It knew what the boy was doing, ignoring him and the digimon around him. But he couldn't let that pass. "Boy…"

Takato groaned but didn't reply. He didn't want for Yggdrasil to bother him, didn't want the mass of energy to hurt him, wanted to be left alone… He shuddered roughly, clawing with his right hand at his dirty pant leg. 'I want to go home, I want to cry, I don't know what I want… I don't want to be here…'

"Boy!" Yggdrasil snarled.

He could at least have bothered to learn his name, Takato figured. He'd be far more inclined to listen if he was called by his name.

"Flam—"

"_What_?" Takato groaned quietly, not wanting to be attacked again. His eyes flickered down to look at the large green dragon inside which Yggdrasil resided.

"You will reply to me when I call to you." Yggdrasil demanded.

"I didn't know you were talking to me," was Takato's snooty reply.

"Who _else_ would I be talking to?"

Takato forced himself to spin a little so as to not anger the mass more. "Sorry…" he said halfheartedly.

"You'd better be, for Sovereign's sake." Yggdrasil replied.

"…" Takato couldn't bother himself for a reply. He laid his head on the ground, eyes half-lidded.

"He'll never find you, you know."

"Mhh." Which wasn't really a yes or no in Takato's book. It was more like a, "yes, I heard you, please shut the limbo up". Which was kind of what Takato was going for.

"You'll die here. I hope. Soon, if we're lucky, so I can keep your little knight forever." Yggdrasil continued, crossing the Majiramon's arms.

Takato ignored him.

"Doesn't that upset you? Or are you humans truly as heartless as I've heard?"

"Not hear'less…" Takato finally whimpered through clenched teeth.

"Pardon?"

"We're not hear'less. Humans aren't heartless." Takato repeated. He coughed roughly and groaned.

"That's not what I've heard. Why, some of you kill just for fun." Yggdrasil giggled, his hand sliding beneath his chin in amusement.

Takato had had quite enough of the tiny replies. "Yeah, some of us kill and some of you kidnap and hold kids hostage when they obviously need medical attention and won't let them go home, all for their partner." Takato was almost proud of himself. He hadn't had the energy to speak so much in quite a while. Of course, he knew that that was probably the dumbest move that he'd ever made, but did he care? Honestly, not really.

"What was that?"

"You heard me."

With a roar, the Majiramon slid through the very bars of the cage and perched, surrounding the body, above Takato. He could see clearly into the throat that the dragon was about to send its Flaming Arrowheads on him. God yes, finally!

Yggdrasil forced his mouth closed and growled in earnest. He used his tail to force the boy onto his back and released the firmly curled ball he'd made. "_You_, you little bastard, will listen to me. You are no better than the Chuchidarumon desert scum. You are no better than the sand in the Desert, oh no! _You __are the scum of the Digital World, you are_!" he growled rather quietly, pressing his nose against the boy's face. The boy had to squint.

Takato made to recover his stomach, wincing when two legs pressed down atop his own. Would he attempt to break one of his legs as well? The dragon's tail coiled forward and started tracing the nasty wound, curling up to wind around his face. "S-stop it. Leave me alone." He didn't even bother to continue. He didn't think that the rest needed to be said. _If __you're going to kill me, please do it now…_

"Don't like this, do you? You pathetic little creature."

"Would you?"

Takato could feel that Yggdrasil was fighting to not kill him. He gasped in pain when the tail pressed down harshly on his wound, glad when the dragon finally got off of him. He curled back into his little ball of protection.

"You quit with your attitude, boy. I'll kill you if one more word come out of your mouth. You and your partner." Yggdrasil snarled, whipping Takato across the cheek with his tail.

Takato would have opened his mouth and not only spoken, but said the stupidest thing that he could say, if only to free him from this place. He really would have, had Yggdrasil not added in "and your partner."

Yggdrasil noticed that he was doing as told and put on a large grin. "Finally have your head in place, I see."

'I'm sick of this crap. Go ahead and kill me, and Gallantmon will fight you and win, who cares?' "My head's been in place this whole time." He forced himself to all fours and eventually found himself standing—an amazing feat considering he could hardly move just yesterday. Or the day before? Or perhaps weeks ago… the days had melded together and had been like that for several months… or something…

"What?"

"Don't talk about me like I'm stupid. I'm not. I understand all this crap that you're saying and I'm _sick_ of hearing it!"

"Oh? And what will you do about it?" Takato saw no mercy. 'Finally…'

"I'll tell Omnimon to tell Gallantmon! I'll make you shut up, I don't care! Just _STOP __IT_!"

Once again, Yggdrasil bore down on him, this time whipping his tail across his stomach and sending him crashing against the back wall. The Apemon started going nuts. "You will not _speak __to me in that tone of voice_!" Yggdrasil cried loudly, grabbing the boy in his claws and pressing him against the wall. "Do not speak as though you are better than me! You're not! _I__'__m_ better! _I__'__m_ stronger! _I__'__m_ wiser! _I__'__ve_ got the whole Digital _World_ under my control! The largest city in the Digital World is named after me! _I __AM BETTER!"_

Takato didn't even bother fighting as the maw once again opened and flames starting rushing forward, prepared to burst and finally—yes, _finally_—kill the boy that they were being aimed at. Finally, the Angel of Death had found him and was going to bring him home! He'd be back there, sure, dead, but at least in the Real World, there was a place where he could wait for his friends and family to come and he could greet them with open arms, blemish-free…

Once again, however, he was interrupted. No, death would not take him today. Well, not now. "My Lord! Open the gates, what was that sound?"

Yggdrasil growled at the door, lifting Takato up by his torso. He filtered the anger from his voice easily. "Nothing, it was nothing. Just give me a second, my throne's a mess, and we can't have that, now can we?"

The pounding that Takato had at first thought was in his head subsided, and Yggdrasil whipped down to glare at the boy. "What are you _thinking_? I will kill you if you so much as give me the chance."

"Whoopee." Takato replied quietly.

Yggdrasil peered around the room. He set the boy down and scuttled out of the cage, where a large birdcage lay on its side, once used for a Phoenixmon. He set it right and searched for a chain. Upon spotting one, he scuttled over to it and picked it up, winding it around the loop on the top. He threw the chain to catch on one of the rafters, grinning as it came down with a clash.

Takato winced at the loud noise. He whimpered as Yggdrasil came back and lifted him harshly. He was then carried out and tossed carelessly into the cage. Yggdrasil slammed closed the door and started hefting it up. Once his face was level with the door, he blew fire, melting it together so it couldn't be opened. Then he continued hefting until he was completely in the shadows. "This is where I should have had you all along, my sweet little pet." He growled.

Takato didn't even look up from where he was, barely leaning against the back wall, cradling everything that hurt, which felt like just everything in general.

Just as the door slammed open, Yggdrasil released the Majiramon and floated up to his pedestal innocently. "Lord!"

"Hello, my little Knights. What ever is the problem?" Yggdrasil asked.

Omnimon narrowed his eyes and peered around. "We heard a noise from in here. We were wondering what had happened. What _did_ happen, my Lord?" he asked.

Yggdrasil scoffed. "Nothing besides a little mishap. You know how it goes. Now, out!" Yggdrasil ordered.

Magnamon sighed in frustration, turning to notice that Omnimon was standing stock-still. He placed a hand on his bicep, muttering, "come talk to me later." He only left when he got a reassuring nod.

Omnimon heard the groans of his fellow Knights as they turned and left. He stood powerful as the others passed him. Noting Yggdrasil's glare, he replied, "I am allowed to be here. What happened, sir? For real." He said. He glanced over in the direction of Takato's old cage, but his eyes widened when he was the door open and a Majiramon walking back to its own. "What… _did_ happen?" he demanded.

Yggdrasil glanced in the direction of the cage and shook. "Like I said, nothing but a mishap." The door closed with an ominous _boom_. "The boy didn't _have _to smart off."

Omnimon wished that he could clench a fist. He growled, "where _is __he_?" he snarled.

"Is that really any of your business, Omnimon?"

"As the only person who cares about him, _YES, _it _is_ my business!" Omnimon replied.

"Perhaps I killed him, what would you care? It'd be doing you all a favor, at least." Yggdrasil scoffed. He floated down from his pedestal to hover into Takato's old cage.

"_Now_ what are you doing?" Omnimon growled darkly.

"Merely clearing out any remains of that creature. Mind giving me a hand, Omnimon?" Yggdrasil's voice echoed throughout the throne room, and Omnimon's heart clenched. 'He… did he really kill him?' "No. I'm not going to do that." He replied.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

Yggdrasil chuckled. He glared at Majiramon, who slithered back out of his cage. "You… you're all just determined to piss me off, aren't you all? I should kill you for this, Omnimon. I really want to. You wouldn't mind, would you?" he snarled. The Majiramon opened its mouth and spat fire at the Royal Knight. Omnimon whipped his Brave Shield Omega off of his shoulder, blocking the attack easily.

"With your partners' lives in my hands, Omnimon, I think that now is not the time to act treasonous." Yggdrasil scowled.

"Treasonous? I'm not, but I'm not going to touch whatever you did to Takato!" Omnimon cried. "Aren't you? You _are_ committing acts against your King."

Omnimon growled. "And what a King you are! You, who would attack small children because they were annoying you! Hmm? You, acting as though you are at the top of the world when really you're at the bottom of the food chain! Acting as though you're better than everyone else! You are no better! That boy is better than you! HE'S BETTER!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH OMNIMON!" Yggdrasil screamed. He growled. "Get out. Get out! If you don't leave now, I'll kill you, Gallantmon, your little partners, EVERYONE! GET OUT!"

Omnimon yelped but snarled. He turned, looking around the room one more time to see if Takato was alive. Then he sighed. "I hope that you learn something from all this, Lord. You may have their loyalty, and perhaps mine, but mind you, Gallantmon's you do not, and he's the one that you should be afraid of. Good day." He dipped his head, pushed open the door, and slammed it shut.

Takato winced at the loud boom, still not moving from his position. Finally, he groaned and flipped over, gasping in pain and looking up at the ceiling. He felt tears flood his ruby eyes and trickle out before he could stop this. 'I'm not making it out alive… god, I just wanna go home…I'm so sorry, Mom…' he released one painful sob and closed his eyes, allowing the overpowering, wonderful feeling of sleep slip over him. The tears didn't even stop as he was pulled into a blissful nothingness.


	11. Chapter 11

The Hazard Symbol

A/N: As of this chapter, I do believe that we will be only a few chapters from the climax! Like, five maybe. :) Which only means about two and a half weeks... hey guys, next time I want to do two updates a week, ask me not to. It'll turn out better, I'm certain, if I give myself more time... -_-'

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><p>Magnamon slammed against the wall as a blurry white tornado stormed past, propelling profanities into the air. He gasped in surprise, his red eyes wide. "What the…"<p>

The door to Omnimon's quarters opened and slammed shut roughly. Magnamon winced and sighed, prying himself off of the wall. He turned to the other Knight.

Dynasmon pulled himself off of the wall and dusted off his wings carefully. He raised his eyebrow. "What's wrong with Omnimon?" he asked.

Magnamon shrugged. "I don't know. He was fine before." He said.

Dynasmon shook his head and stepped toward his quarters. "Good day, Magnamon. I look forward to our mission tomorrow."

"As do I." Saying stuff like that, "I look forward to our mission" was Knightese for "I'm glad that we get to hang out tomorrow". Even "I'm glad that you're going to go with me on this mission."

Magnamon turned to Omnimon's door, knocking harshly on the barrier. "Omnimon, you said that you'd come talk to me." He said.

"If you're someone I don't want to talk to, go delete yourself!"

Magnamon winced at the rough curse. "It's Magnamon. Can I come in?" he asked. After no answer came, he sighed, "I'm coming in, Omnimon." He said.

"Whatever."

Magnamon pushed the door open and stepped into his friend's room.

As usual, the place was a mess. Omnimon wasn't one for neatness in that sense, but then… who was?

Omnimon himself looked unhappy, sprawled out sideways across his bed. His arms were thrown beneath his head and the Brave Shield Omega had been torn off of his shoulder and was stuck in the wall, its side sunk firmly in place. His eyes were closed and he looked as though he was sleeping. "What do you want?"

"Just to talk. You said that you would, remember?" Magnamon asked. He sighed. "Whatever you and the King talked about must have really got to you, huh? Do you want to talk about it? I'm all ears."

Omnimon sat up and put his head in his hands. "It's nothing. Private stuff."

"Then why does it have you so upset?" Magnamon ventured.

"It's just… it's nothing. Personal, you know."

"You'd tell Gallantmon if he were here." Magnamon pointed out softly.

Omnimon immediately shook his head. "No, trust me. I wouldn't. I'd tell him anything _but_ this." He said.

"C'mon… just give me a synopsis."

Omnimon raised his eyes to the golden Knight and shook his head. "Alright, since you're breaking out the big words." He said humorlessly. He sighed. "…What's your outtake on humans?"

"Humans? They're mostly useless little bags of bones that can't do anything for themselves." Omnimon almost went to open his mouth and reply before Magnamon held up a hand. "No, that's a lie. Considering those last humans that came here to stop the D-Reaper." He amended. "Maybe some of them are helpful, but certainly not all."

"Some _digimon_ are helpful but certainly not all." Omnimon replied.

Magnamon nodded. "True, true." He crossed his arms. "Either way, that's what I think, why?"

"What if you came upon one here? One that was injured, badly."

Magnamon blinked. "Now why would that happen? They have their own world and we have ours." He said.

"Well? What would you do?" Omnimon demanded, rising.

Magnamon shrank down in subordination. "I'd… probably put it out of its misery, depending on how badly hurt it is. Wouldn't you?" he asked.

Omnimon winced, and Magnamon narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Omnimon was suddenly very quiet as he spoke, sinking back onto his bed, his voice small. "…What would you say if I told you that here, in Drasilya, there was a human? Injured, very, very badly. He could die. And he's been here for two years or more." He mumbled.

"…I'd say that that last mission dealt you some brain damage. What are you thinking, Omnimon! Humans aren't even allowed in Drasilya. You know that!" Magnamon chuckled, waiting for Omnimon to start laughing as well. However, after a few seconds, he stopped. "Wait… you're being serious?" he breathed.

"Very." Omnimon replied.

"How did he get here?"

"A Majiramon."

Magnamon thought for a few seconds, and narrowed his eyes as realization dawned. "A human being here is no fault of the King's!" he cried.

"How do _you__know_?" Omnimon demanded, glaring at Magnamon. "You aren't allowed in the throne, you don't see the state of that child, you don't _see_ the _fright_ that I see when that boy looks at the King! You… you don't see how King Drasil _treats__him_…" he groaned and held his head in his hands. "It's like… he's only a child. A little, human child. He couldn't defend himself and he couldn't get away… and all this for Gallantmon!"

Magnamon pursed his lips and put his hands on his hips. "Don't tell me. You're going to say a whole bunch of stuff about how 'this human is Gallantmon's partner and that's why he's here and why Gallantmon's here!' and all that crap. C'mon, you know that's a load of Bullmon data! You've said so yourself, a thousand times! Gallantmon doesn't have partners… digimon don't _get__partners_!" he said, throwing his hands into the air.

Omnimon sighed heavily. "I wish that I knew what I know. I'm not sure… everything's weird." He murmured.

Magnamon sighed. "You've gotta be joking. Do you actually believe that?" he demanded.

"So what if I do? Look, I trust Gallantmon with my life, and as your second in command, you should too! At least he's fighting for something that he believes in!" Omnimon replied.

"We're not?" Magnamon crossed his arms and leveled a glare at Omnimon.

"Not like Gallantmon. Magnamon, I'll break you in myself, but you've got to believe me! There's a dying child in that room, there has been for years, and so far as I can tell, he's not getting away any time soon!"

Magnamon sighed and shook his head, relaxing a little. "Why don't you just tell Gallantmon, hmm?" he asked.

"King Drasil's already threatened to delete you guys if I do!" Omnimon cried.

Magnamon winced once, watching his leader. "R…really? Why would he do that? How much could this kid possibly mean to him?" he asked.

"He means enough that he's keeping him alive, obviously! Well, I thought… I don't know!" Omnimon shook his head, pressing one hand against his forehead. "I think that he may have killed him. I mean, I'm not sure, but I didn't see him anywhere, and the King mentioned cleaning up after him… what if he did kill him?"

"I don't… know?" it was clear that Magnamon was struggling with what to say. He could have yelled, but it was very difficult to stay mad with Omnimon for very long. "So… uh, you knew the kid?" he asked, sweatdropping.

Omnimon kicked one foot. "You could say that. I mean, I checked on him, made sure that he was safe because no one else does… He was nice and everything. I just… you know how Knights are. We're supposed to 'defend the weak and protect the helpless' or something like that. He's exactly that. And especially with Gallantmon still gone, I feel like I need to protect him. You know?" he said.

Magnamon pursed his lips again, this time in thought. "I can't say I do, I've never been in your situation. …Omnimon, _do_ you believe that digimon can have human partners and stuff? I want the truth this time."

"I didn't… until I saw Gallantmon leave. You don't just leave your home for a made-up creation. It was very important to him. _That_ made me believe, because he believed in it so much." He muttered.

Magnamon nodded. He cast cherry eyes to the floor. "I thought as much. Well, that's fine. If that's what you believe in, the rest of us will have to accept it." He said encouragingly.

Omnimon looked surprised. "But… but around Drasilya, partner-talk is Bullmon data! Don't you think I'm a freak?"

Magnamon laughed openly. "Look, no matter what you think, you're still the greatest leader the Knights have ever had. You know that. Better than Alphamon, or Imperialdramon Paladin Mode! That won't change because Gallantmon convinced you of something like that." He said.

"You didn't know either of them."

Magnamon stretched and sat down on the floor, spreading his arms behind him. "Ahh, didn't have to know them. You're you. You're better." (**A/N:****cheese alert, cheese alert!**)

Omnimon chuckled, shaking his head.

"You know, it'd almost be kinda cool to have a partner. You'd only have one person to look out for besides yourself. It'd be like… you have a purpose but the whole world isn't on your shoulders. Limbo, that'd be sweet!"

"It probably would be." Omnimon nodded, tucking into himself.

They were both silent for a few moments. Magnamon sighed. "You really miss Gallantmon, don't you?"

"He was the only Knight that I felt like I could relate to on a deeper level. I mean, there was you guys." Omnimon set his wolf hand at his breastplate. "And then there was Gallantmon." His dino-head went to way above his horns. "So yeah, I miss him."

"And _you_ can't tell him, right?"

"Unless you guys want to die."

"…Alright. He went out to find his little partner, right? What was he calling himself all of the time? The bearer of something or other, but the name's slipped my mind."

Omnimon furrowed his eyebrows. What could the golden Knight be doing? "_The__Hazard Symbol_. He's the Bearer of the Hazard Symbol. Why?"

"Come with me to the Gururumon Caves. I've an idea."

* * *

><p>"None? No? that's alright, it's fine. No, no, it's alright. We'll just keep looking."<p>

Gallantmon shook his head and sighed darkly, leaving the tiny shop to stand beside it. He winced a few times as the chilly raindrops hit his helmet and armor. Grani hovered protectively over the three boys, watching Gallantmon nervously.

"Nothing. He's seen nothing. But it's okay. They must be around here _somewhere_." Gallantmon shook his head rather sadly, rubbing his hands together. He looked down at the two brunettes, who looked downcast. After all, the Dracon Village would have been the perfect place to search for dragon type digimon like Agumon and Veemon.

Tai just shook his head. "It's alright. It doesn't matter. It can't have come that easily anyway." He said sadly.

"We'll find them." Gallantmon said assuringly, dropping a hand to land on Tai's explosive hair. Then he continued on.

The Northern Quadrant was just days away. Of course, nothing had been in Azulong, so now they were going to look for the digimon and Takato in Ebon, the capital city of the North, which rested just inside the border of the Northern and Eastern Quadrant.

Maybe… just maybe… they'd find something there.


	12. Chapter 12

REWRITE

A/N: I'm not sorry that this was late. At all. It turned out better than if it was put up on Thursday, I think. :D BTW thanks to the (what, 4?) people who reviewed this last chapter! Love you all!

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><p>Yamaki removed his sunglasses and squeezed his dark eyes shut, wiping off the grime that had accumulated on the lenses. He sighed and slid them back over his face.<p>

"C'mon, you _have_ to let us go!"

"Please, Mr. Yamaki? We promise that we'll be careful!"

"We can take good care of them! Good care!"

He pressed his hand to his head, rubbing his aching temples. "Kids, that's enough."

"C'mon, Yamaki, you're not going to leave Takato stranded, are you?" Ryo asked snottily, arms crossed, Hopmon on his shoulder.

"We've gone over this, I can't allow you to go on your own." Yamaki sighed.

"we won't be on our own!" Jeri declared, her hands on her hips. "Yeah," Rika agreed, "We'll have our digimon!"

"Well then good job. But that doesn't mean that I'll allow you to go to some far-off land to look for your friend. I'm sorry, but I don't trust that you'll stay safe. You don't know where to start!" Yamaki shook his head.

Jeri glared at him unhappily. "Please, Mr. Yamaki. We just want our friend back." She pouted, brimming fake tears into her eyes.

Rika stomped her foot. "Don't you _want_ to find Takato?" she demanded.

"Of course I do!"

"Wait." Henry held up a hand and then placed his chin in it, watching the floor. "You said that we didn't know where to start." He said.

"You've no idea, have you?" Yamaki replied.

"Not yet. Okay… suppose that we did know. Suppose we somehow got his exact location. I mean, I know that that's not much of a chance, but what would you do then? We'd go there right away then!" Henry nodded.

"…You still wouldn't have adequate protection. I mean, no offense to your partners but there are some powerful-ass digimon out there. And lots of them. And you're short a player." Yamaki frowned. "And you'd have to somehow keep in touch with us the whole time."

"Okay, suppose we got that thing that Takato had the last time we all came here. And that we had another digimon with us, a powerful one. And suppose that we knew exactly where to start. What then?" Henry demanded, cocking a black eyebrow at the over-protective adult.

Yamaki glared at him but sighed and shook his head. "I'd think about it. But at the moment, none of the three are present. Only one of the three is accessible. Now then, don't you have to get home? We don't want your parents thinking that you've been kidnapped as well." Those words were what really pushed all of the kids to get home, normally. He dared any of the four children to say anything, sighing in relief when Jeri's gaze dropped to the ground and Rika turned away, biting her lip. Even Ryo simply shook his head and turned away. "Look, kids, if I knew that you were absolutely safe, I'd be all for it. But you wandering around the Digital World is exactly the opposite of 'safe' and I'm not putting four kids at risk trying to find one boy! Let Gallantmon handle the danger stuff for now. We'll talk about later, later."

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><p>Gururumon crouched and pressed his snout to the ground, his tail wagging as he sniffed up the scent that he was supposed to find. He panted as he lifted his head to the air. Desert sand whipped around him. He pawed at the ground and took off North, toward Ebon.<p>

It had been four days since Magnamon had sent him on what he claimed was "the most important mission of his life". He'd hounded down on Gallantmon's trail and was gaining on him fast. He'd proudly bear the messages that he'd been given, because Magnamon claimed that they'd be of the utmost importance.

He caught a deep whiff of Gallantmon—now accompanied by four other travelers—in Ebon and headed west toward Baihumon's Quadrant. He'd catch up to that Knight yet!

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><p>Bai—a suburban area surrounding the capital city of the Western Quadrant, Baihu—was crowded as hell, and it didn't seem to do them any good that Gallantmon was a Royal Knight—compared to other digimon, he was fairly short.<p>

Tai pushed Davis down as a Tyrannomon stepped over them. Gallantmon wanted to snap at him, but he didn't want to upset anyone. "C'mon you guys. We'll be out of the city and into the rural areas soon enough. Just wait." He said.

The three boys nodded. Grani hovered over them protectively and watched Gallantmon, waiting for a signal.

It was nearly dark by the time that they escaped the hustle and bustle. Tai and Matt dropped to the ground back to back, tired. Davis dropped down beside them and looked at Gallantmon pathetically.

The white knight looked a little peeved, at himself and the world. He didn't know where else to look. He'd been around the Digital World in a span of five months and _nothing_. Maybe he wasn't meant to find Takato…

He let the kids rest for a few minutes. Then, soon before dark would set in, he said, "C'mon kids, time to go. Rural is still a few hours away." He said, holding a hand out to Davis to help him stand. The other two got up on their own.

Gallantmon turned and led the way toward the Rural areas. There weren't many places left before he'd have to head back toward Drasilya. And surely Takato couldn't be there.

It was several hours past dark when the group arrived in one of the Rural towns. A small family of Youkomon, Doumon, and Renamon took them in kindly. As Tai, Matt, Davis, and Grani slept, Gallantmon leaned back against a tree outside of them, watching the moon glow softly.

The weather was nice with no wind and the temperature just right. Gallantmon sighed and leaned his head back against a tree, his helmet clanking softly. He reached around and took off his Tamer's D-Power, brushing the surface softly. He sighed as the transmission came up once again. He'd listened to it several thousands of times since he'd found it. He hoped to find some other meaning behind everything but… nothing.

"I'm scared, Guilmon. I don't know if I'll survive this…"

His head dropped to watch the still grass. He sighed. He'd truly failed his Tamer, hadn't he? "Takatomon, where are you? I've looked _everywhere_ and you're nowhere to be found. I don't know where to go. And I _can__'__t_ go back to Drasilya, I'll be killed. And I won't leave you here alone." He scuffed at the ground and crossed his arms, wrapping his hand around the D-Power to silence it.

"Gallantmon! _Gallantmon_!"

Gallantmon leapt forward in surprise as his name was called. Looking up, he saw a Gururumon run from the direction that he'd come from. "Gururumon!"

The Gururumon skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. "It took me a _week_ to track you down, Gallantmon!" he said. He lifted his paws and pawed at the ground nervously. "Magnamon… sent me!" he cried.

"Oh? What for?" Surely Gallantmon wasn't needed or anything. He couldn't go back to Drasilya yet!

"He… had a message. Said it was really important… though it didn't make sense to me." Gururumon explained. He leaned against Gallantmon when the Royal Knight stroked him behind his ear. "Um… he said that whatever you're looking for… it's been where you'd least expect it. Most important is with the least important… the little Hazard is in the Golden Chair." He panted.

Gallantmon recoiled. What the limbo did those things mean?

"Does that make any sense, Gallantmon?"

"…Not at the moment, no. But if Magnamon told you to tell me, it must be important. Thank you." He squeezed the D-Power tightly. He peered up at the hut to see if any of his traveling companions had awoken.

"Gallantmon? He told me to tell you one last thing…" Gururumon's ears lowered nervously.

"Yes? What is it?" Gallantmon demanded.

"He said that you should be extra careful now, don't be rash and hotheaded like you can get, and remember that it'll work out in the end… he'll make sure of it." Gururumon quoted.

"…Oh. Um… thank you." Gallantmon nodded. 'How does Magnamon know what I'm going to do to the bastard that took away my Takatomon when I find him?' he thought. He sighed and shook his head. "You can go on home, Gururumon. Unless there's something else. Tell Magnamon that I'll pay to feed you extra." He said.

"Thank you, Gallantmon!" Gururumon panted happily. He pressed his muzzle against Gallantmon's breast plate and then took off. "Goodbye and good luck!" he said.

"Bye!" Gallantmon lifted his hand and the D-Power in farewell. He sighed then, dropping his hand back to his side.

_Whatever you're looking for, it's been where you'd least expect it._

_Most important is with the least important._

_The little Hazard is the Golden Chair._

What the limbo was Magnamon talking about?

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><p>Despite having "slept on it", Gallantmon still could not for the life of him figure out what the heck that riddle meant. He'd stayed in bed an extra two hours after he'd woken up trying to figure it out, to no avail.<p>

Gallantmon thanked the Doumon that had given shelter and bowed to the Youkomon and Renamon who watched from behind her, their ears down. "Thank you for letting us stay, ma'am. Best of wishes to you three. Goodbye." He said.

Doumon waved her talismans at him. Renamon's paw waved in the air, and Youkomon's tails waved as well.

Tai raised his eyebrows at the Knight and started walking due south with a deep sigh. "You were up awful late last night." He commented.

"Just trying to figure out what Takato's message was. Then I got a message from Magnamon and now I'm trying to figure it out. Is it so hard for things to make sense?" Gallantmon growled.

Matt shook his head. "Apparently. Alright, maybe we can help. What was it?"

"Uh… the one from Magnamon?"

"well, we've already heard your kid's message, so yeah, the one from Magnamon." Davis said snootily, walking a step behind Matt and Tai and just in front of Gallantmon and Grani.

"…Well you don't need to be a jerk about it." Gallantmon sighed. "He said… _whatever __you__'__re __looking __for __has __been __where __you __least __expect __it._ That was one clue. Then _most __important __is __with __the __least __important_. And then, _the __little __Hazard __is __in __the __Golden __Chair._"

"The little Hazard?" Tai asked, astounded.

"Golden Chair?" Matt shook his head. "Maybe we can't help…"

"Well, no." Davis shook his head as well, watching the ground with creased eyebrows. "Is there anything in this Digital World that's golden? That may be what he's referring to." Davis nodded determinedly.

Gallantmon lifted his eyebrows but frowned, thinking deeply. Was there anything golden in the Digital World? He shook his head, unable to think of anything, before his mind wandered to Drasilya, and then the Throne Room, where the ledges were literally made of gold, and the specks in the door were made of pure gold. "M…maybe. The Throne Room at Drasilya, where my Lord stays. It's lined with gold." He explained.

"Mhmm. And the little Hazard?" Davis asked.

"I've no clue!"

Tai shook his head. "Well, let's work on a different one then, hmm? It's where you least expect it. I can imagine that this 'whatever you're looking for' is your kid, right?"

"More than likely."

"Okay. Where is he _likely_ to be?" Matt said.

"Uh… I don't know? Um, probably with one of the Sovereigns or in the smaller villages. Somewhere that he's been before."

"So we know that we can avoid those. Right? Okay, where is he least likely to be?"

"Anywhere else, honestly. But… I don't know, in a large city? Otherwise someone would have spotted him. Um… caves… he's kind of afraid of the dark. A little. Uh… I don't… can't think of any others."

Tai nodded. "Then keep your eyes out for caves and large cities. We can start with that and start narrowing it down from there. Right?"

"Right. So, we went through those two. Then… _most __important __is __with __the __least __important_. Most important is probably Takato."

All four of his companions agreed.

"But then… least important?"

"Who would you ditch easiest? Who would be the first person you would drop?" Grani peered up at his friend.

Gallantmon glanced down at him, surprised. "Well that's easy, it's—" Gallantmon paused, realizing suddenly that perhaps it wasn't so easy. He could say King Drasil, but then what kind of a Royal Knight would he be? He could say the three boys, but they weren't the ones he'd leave. So… who?

"Who wouldn't you forgive?" Matt breathed softly.

"Uh…what?"

"So, say someone hurt you in the worst way possible. Who wouldn't you forgive, if they did that to you, or who would you forgive last?"

"The King." Gallantmon replied. Now that he thought about it, the King had promised a lot of things to him, yet he hadn't received a tiny bit of this little reward. He hadn't been granted leave to search for his Tamer, no one helped to find him, nothing… "Definitely the King."

"So… Takato's with the King?" Grani creased his eyebrows and watched Gallantmon's changing expression.

"No… what was that last clue? _The __little __Hazard __is __in __the __Golden __Chair._ What's another word for chair?"

"Bench? Rocker?" Tai offered.

"Armchair? Recliner? Sling?"

"Cathedra?"

"Throne?" Grani looked once again at Gallantmon once he'd offered the idea.

"So the little Hazard's in the Golden Throne. Uh… Throne… throne could be Drasilya. But Drasilya's so big! But… but then… no, we're not allowed in there. Omnimon's the only one allowed in the Throne Room. Maybe he knew… _he __knew_… maybe he truly is in the Throne Room." Gallantmon set his head in one hand. He shook his head and started pacing. "The little Hazard is in Drasilya's Throne Room. But what does the first bit mean?"

"I know that this is random but—"

"Davis!"

"What does that sign on your kneecaps mean?"

"What? That's the Hazard Symbol. It's what I am, Bearer of the Hazard Symbol. Wait…" Gallantmon held out his left hand and expanded it to a shield. He turned the powerful thing to face him, staring at the Hazard Symbol on it. "Little Hazard…" Gallantmon thought back to the half-a-day he'd been in the Real World. Fairly certain of himself, he remembered seeing a few Hazard Symbols drawn on pieces of paper scattered around the room. And a t-shirt with the Hazard Symbol on the front had been on the floor.

"Gallantmon?"

"Shh!" Gallantmon snapped. Did the little Hazard really mean Takato? Maybe it meant Guilmon… yeah. King Drasil was holding a Guilmon hostage.

'But why would Magnamon bother to tell you if that's all it was?' his conscience told him.

Suddenly everything clicked into place rather loudly. Dissolving his shield, he slammed one fist into the other palm. "I know! Grani, we're flying back to Drasilya, now! We haven't time to walk! I think that I know where Takatomon is!"


	13. Chapter 13

REWRITE

A/N: I'm sorry. I'm a horrible person. But I got stuck. Well, at least it's an update day :)

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><p>Gallantmon's cape whipped in the wind as Grani carried him and the three boys (an amazing feat, really) toward Drasilya, towards home, and even better, <em>towards <em>_Takato_.

Grani kept one eye ahead, the other was glancing back at him every once in a while, checking to make sure that he was alright.

"So, how are you going to fight this guy if he's as strong as you say?" asked Tai, screaming to be heard over the wind.

"Helluva lot of luck!" Gallantmon replied, wincing at each _chink_ that his Tamer's D-Power made as it struck his armor.

"_How __will __that __help __you_?" Grani demanded. "Has your luck really been that good lately?"

"Well…"

"Gallantmon!"

"I don't know, okay? Normally Craniamon is the one with a plan! He's normally the go-to guy when it comes to stuff like this! What else am I supposed to say?" he growled.

All three boys winced as his voice radiated darkly.

Gallantmon sighed. "You and I will fight 'til I know what to do." He said.

Tai squeezed his knees a little tighter against Grani. He looked up at Gallantmon. "Hey, Gallantmon? If you really did have a human, than naturally he can't have been the only one. Are there others like him, others that had digimon? There must have been someone that you can call." He said.

"There… were. But I don't know how to get ahold of them." Gallantmon reached back to remove the D-Power from his cape. He looked at the fizzing machine. He touched the screen, bringing up the transmission once again. Sighing, he pulled out of that, going to dink around with the little golden machine.

His eyes widened when a few names appeared on the screen. Henry Wong, Rika Nonaka, and half of Jeri Katou's name appeared there. After clicking on Henry's name curiously, the machine projected the words, "SENDING TRANSMISSION TO D-POWER 0302. PLEASE WAIT FOR A FEW SECONDS."

Gallantmon felt his throat wet down as the D-Power started to _ring_, as though it were a phone. But hey, he'd totally accept it. If it could get his Takatomon back he'd more than just 'accept it'. Finally, it dinged like an elevator and he asked, "Henry? This you?"

* * *

><p>Henry froze in surprise when something vibrated in his pocket. He was sitting at the computer in his room, writing a paper for his history class. Terriermon was sitting on the monitor, watching the words fly. He glanced up at his Tamer, eyebrows raised in amusement. "What? Did your phone scare you?" he giggled.<p>

"No. Terriermon, I don't _have_a phone." Henry said. As it was, the vibrating was coming from the very pocket that his D-Power was stashed in. He reached in and pulled the device out, staring at the screen as the word "transmission" circled around the screen. Not knowing what to do, he tapped the screen, and it came to life.

"Henry? This you?"

"Uh… yeah. Who might this be?" Henry asked, blushing as Terriermon giggled.

"Gallantmon! _Takato_'s Gallantmon! Thank the Sovereigns I got a hold of you! Henry, I need your and the other Tamers' help." The deep voice on the other side said.

"Gallantmon? How are you… _talking_ to me?" Henry furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Terriermon hopped to his shoulders and stared down at the screen.

"Easy! I'm on Takato's D-Power! I found it in the desert a few weeks back! So, will you help?"

"With _what_?"

Gallantmon sighed, and Henry heard a chink which must have meant he set his head in his hands… or something like that. "I… think that I know where Takato is. I'm on the way there now." The Knight breathed.

"You… _what_? You do? That's wonderful, Gallantmon! But why do you need our help?" Henry asked, spinning in his chair.

"Mhmm. The… the _thing_ that has him is very powerful, and he can control several very powerful digimon, and I don't think that he'll give up Takato without a fight. And I can't _fight__him_ my own. I need your help. Please, you must come!"

"Oh… of course we'll come, if we can convince Yamaki to let us go!"

"Thank you! I will contact Rika, but if you could call the others and let them know, that'd be wonderful. Thank you, Henry!"

"Wait! Where did you find him? We need to know where to go or Yamaki absolutely won't let us go!"

Gallantmon paused for a second. "Uh… the Southern Quadrant. A city called 'Drasilya'. Just be a few miles out. I'll meet you there. Now, bye!" the D-Power dinged like an elevator and Henry knew that Gallantmon had 'hung up'. He dropped the D-Power into his lap and continued staring at it, amazed.

"And this is helping you how?" Terriermon asked innocently.

Henry jolted at the voice and shook his head. "Sorry. I'm just… I'm amazed, I guess. I should probably call Jeri. She'll want to know, you know?" he said.

Terriermon nodded and climbed down to the desk. Henry reached over for the phone and dialed Jeri's number, sticking it to his ear.

After the second ring, the brunette answered with a brisk but cheerful hello.

"Hey Jer. It's Henry. Listen, I think I need your help with something." Henry said, spinning to face his paper. Sighing, he saved it and closed it. He wouldn't be able to work on it anymore tonight anyway.

Jeri clattered something and moved to a quieter room, all cheerful voice and audible smiles. "Sure, what is it? I'll probably be able to help depending on the timeframe. But anyway, what is it?" she asked.

"Nothing big. Er, kind of. So, just a minute ago, I got a strange call—even weirder, it was on my _D-Power_—anyway, it was from Gallantmon. Yes, Takato's Gallantmon, he said so himself. He said that he'd get hold of Rika. Going on, he told me that he may possible know where Takato is… maybe…" Henry waited for an ecstatic scream of some kind, something to signify that she'd heard him and understood. Finally, after almost a minute of registering, "Henry? That's a mean joke to play on someone."

Henry stuttered the next words, "A-a j-joke? What do you mean? I'm being completely serious! I'd even show you the caller ID on this thing if I knew how…"

"But _how_?" Jeri demanded darkly. "How is it possible?"

"I don't know! But it _did__happen_, let me tell you! He called me… and he needs our help. He said that the person with Takato is very powerful and also controls very powerful digimon. He won't be able to get Takato back on his own. We have to help him! You'll come won't you?" Henry practically pouted, kicking back in his chair.

"…Are you serious? I mean, just yesterday we had no way of going to the Digital World…"

"I know! We're going to get Yamaki to help us! I mean, that's two of the three things right there! He told me where to go, he'll be with us fighting! Then if Yamaki give us a palm pilot like he gave to Takato the last time we went to the Digital World, we're golden!" Henry exclaimed.

"…When are we going?" Jeri demanded, her voice dark and her resolve hardened.

Henry grinned.

* * *

><p>Jeri whistled to herself as she bounced down the sidewalk toward the Hypnos buildings. In her arms, Wanyamon's ears went up and down and his tail swayed. He giggled as they bounced. He swiped his tail around her arm and glanced up at her.<p>

Her legs getting tired, she stopped bouncing, going for a steady walk instead. She hummed to herself, swaying a little, somehow avoiding bumping into other walkers who peered at her funnily.

"Can't believe it… after two years… Yamaki will let us. Right?" Jeri asked Wanyamon.

"Of course. He'll understand." He agreed.

Jeri looked back up when she smelled baking bread. "…I think you're right. We should go let the Matsuki's know, come on!" she took off at a run, following memory more than nose, eyes, or ears.

She barged her way right past a young group of kids running around with spray paint in front of the bakery, apparently vandals going for their next targets. "Mrs. Matsuki!" she exclaimed, coming to a stop at the counter.

Mie obviously hadn't been expecting that, because she jumped and dropped the pen and pad that she'd been holding. "Jeri?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Matsuki. How are you?" Jeri asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

Mrs. Matsuki shook her head. "Good afternoon, Jeri. I'm fine all things considering, thank you for asking. And yourself?" She dropped to grab the pen and pad, standing and setting it on the counter.

"I'm fine, wonderful actually, and so is Wanyamon. So, guess what we're doing this afternoon." Jeri said, pulling herself up to sit on the counter.

Mie scrunched her nose but didn't say anything about it. "What are you doing this afternoon?" she asked, sighing.

"Henry, Rika, Ryo, and myself are going to talk to Yamaki about _you__know__what_." Jeri explained, crossing her arms and legs.

Mie raised her eyebrows at the ecstatic girl. "Really? You don't normally get so chipper on these days, so your hopes aren't flattened. What's different about today?" she asked kindly, suddenly very curious about the Katou girl's attitude.

"What's different? Well… we have _proof_."

"P-proof? Of _what_?" Mie asked.

"That Takato's in the Digital World!" Jeri pushed down from the countertop excitedly, clapping her hands once. "Of what else? Gallantmon called Henry because he needs our help! So we're going to go help. I just thought you might want to know. Anyway, I've gotta go. I'll call you and let you know how things turned out!" With that, she skipped out of the store, leaving Mie wide-eyed, drop-jawed, and teary-eyed.

She just couldn't wait.

* * *

><p>Yamaki leaned forward against the table, shoving his sunglasses against his face tightly. "Adjust the panel in sector A1 to cover all of A1 to A3 and out to C1 and C3. Okay, that's good. Riley, move yours a quarter of the way across sector V7. Good, that's enough."<p>

Riley and Tally tapped faithfully away at their keyboards, waiting for his signal and direction. Both winced a little, however, when the telecom buzzed. "Mr. Yamaki, a group of children are here to see you. Claim that it's an emergency. There are four of them, under the name… Henry Wong? May I send them up?"

Yamaki growled and set his head in his hands. He didn't have the time for this mess now! But, the kids hadn't been here in a while. Something must have strengthened their resolve…

"Send them up quickly, I'm very busy!" he snarled.

"Yes sir!"

Two minutes later, the door burst open revealing four kids with their digimon.

"You _must_ let us go!"

Yamaki was stunned by the surprise exclamation, sang with such a force that he recoiled backwards. Never before had they jumped right into the topic, they normally thought up some way to at least _lead_him into the inevitable. Behind him, both Tally and Riley raised their eyebrows curiously. They stopped working. Yamaki ignored them.

"Oh… must I? We've discussed this already, I'm not allowing you to go into such a dangerous situation without extreme back up! It's bad enough having one child in danger, but four more? I'd be short one job the second you stepped into that portal. And where would that put us?" he said, shaking his head, recovering from the shock.

Wanyamon shook from the place that he'd accidentally been thrown to. He bounced over to Henry, who set Gummymon beside him. "See, that's the thing," said the Chinese boy.

"Yeah! We're not short three criteria, we're only short one!" Jeri exclaimed, amber eyes wide with boisterous energy.

Henry turned to glare at her, and sighed. "Mr. Yamaki, please. If you'd give us a chance to explain, maybe you'd let us go." He said.

Yamaki looked between the four of them. Ryo had his arms crossed with Hopmon on his shoulder. Viximon was resting on Rika's head, whose hands were on her hips. Henry leaned back against the table comfortably and Jeri clenched her fists with determination. Finally, the blond subjected. "Fine. You have two minutes. I don't have much time."

Immediately, the four Tamers pulled up chairs and took a seat, watching him with hope. It seemed that they'd chosen Henry to do the talking, as the boy once again opened his mouth. "Now, you may think that I'm crazy maybe, but Ryo believes me, and Jeri believes me. Approximately an hour and a half ago, I received a call on my D-Power from Gallantmon, Takato's Guilmon, you know. He said that he needed our help badly. He said that Takato was there, he knew where he was, but he needed help because the guy that has Takato is really powerful and controls powerful digimon. And we can't just leave him, I already told him we'd be there! He told me where to meet him and that he'd be right there when we landed, probably, and he'd be fighting with us the whole time and you know how _protective_ he is!" Henry finished his little speech nearly out of breath, gray eyes blinking quickly.

Yamaki's mouth dropped open, surprised. He collected himself as quickly as he could and crossed his arms. "Okay, that's two. I required three." He said.

"But _you_ can give us the last one! Please Mr. Yamaki, you're not just going to leave him there, will you? You can't! What about Mr. and Mrs. Matsuki? Please!" Jeri stood excitedly.

Yamaki looked between all of the kids. "Look, there's—"

"Mitsuo."

Yamaki winced and turned to Tally and Riley, who had both climbed out of their chairs and were standing behind him. Riley took a step forward. "Whether you help them or not, Mitsuo, I will. Look, it's about time that child came home, don't you think? He's been there long enough. They have what you required and we have the last. Whether you choose to help or not, Tally and I will help them!" she stomped her foot determinedly.

Yamaki winced and looked at the kids. Jeri's amber eyes were hardened and prepared for any outcome. Henry's had steeled darkly. Both Ryo's and Rika's had shone with a fierce light. He didn't even sigh, just dropped his eyes to the ground and then back at them, his dark eyes alight. "Meet me at the park in an hour."

It took a few seconds for the kids to realize what he'd even said, but eventually Ryo pumped his fist and Jeri cried, "YES!"

* * *

><p>Omnimon growled, kicking his foot as he entered Drasilya, greeting Crusadermon rather icily. He was just returning from a mission to the far south, one that had hardly been worth going at all. And to think, he could have spent all of that time figuring out what the limbo had happened to Takato!<p>

But of course, reporting to King Drasil was top, before everything else. He frowned as he stepped into the dark room, light blue eyes narrowing a little when he saw his Lord's harsh light. "My Lord, I have returned from the south." He said, arms crossing, leaning to the side a bit.

Drasil turned to him. He nodded. "Good. And all went well?" he asked.

"Yes. All went well. Mission accomplished."

"Good. The same here, my Knights protected the city, though of course nothing would dare attack my lovely city." Drasil continued, turning away from his army. He looked up, causing Omnimon to look up as well, curious. But he could see nothing and couldn't imagine that there would be anything that Drasil would want or need up there anyway.

Drasil shook and glanced back at Omnimon, who looked back at him. "Like I said, my Knights took good care of my city. I wasn't even worried."

"Good. You should never be worried as long as the Knights are around." Omnimon agreed, sticking his hands behind him nervously.

Drasil peered at him curiously. "Perhaps I ought to be sending you on more missions! You seemed to have a much leveler head than you did just last week. Maybe you need to be out more." He agreed with himself.

Omnimon frowned, wondering why the King would want to remind him of that. "Yes… I thought it might be a better idea if I approached you calmly rather than angrily. If I may ask… what did happen to Takato? Did you really kill him, Lord? Why?"

Drasil shook once again. "Keep asking and the same thing that happened to him will happen to you. Now be gone. I don't want nor need you. Good bye."

Omnimon winced and stepped back, deciding that he must have killed the boy. "Yes sir. Good evening." With that, he turned around and left, stress levels rising once again.

After all, what would he say to Gallantmon?


	14. Chapter 14

REWRITE

Rika stood outside of Guilmon's hut, Renamon standing faithfully at her side. She was playing with a ring on her right middle finger that her mother had given her the day that Renamon had returned. A little fox was curled on the amethyst rhinestone.

Renamon shifted and looked to the side. She watched Henry try to explain to Jeri why they didn't have the time to force Kazu and Kenta to come. Looking behind them, Yamaki stood, shaking his head, his arms crossed. Amusement almost played across his face if they weren't in a tiny bit of a hurry.

And to the right. A little bit away, not wanting to talk to them in case they accidentally distracted them, stood Mie and Takehiro. Mie's brown eyes were wide with curiosity and worry. Takehiro's arm was thrown casually around her waist. Both were watching with determination, hoping that their little boy would be returned to them.

Rika glanced at them and offered a small smile, snapping at her companions to get their attention.

Henry and Jeri looked up from their argument, glaring at her. "Let's go! Takato hasn't got all day!" Rika snapped at them.

Mie chuckled softly and set her head on Takehiro's shoulder.

Henry sighed and nodded. "She's right. Let's go."

"Fine." Jeri said, looking backwards.

Ryo pushed himself up from where he was, leaning against the gate. Beside him, Monodramon cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms excitedly.

Yamaki followed them as they went into the hut, where the portal glowed ominously in the hole that Guilmon had dug all those years ago. He handed Henry the palm pilot, the very same one that Takato had been given the first time to the Digital World. "Now I want you to keep in contact with me as often as you can. And when you've got him, come back, but send me a message so I can be ready for him. Alright? And if any of you _dare_ get hurt…" Yamaki practically threatened.

Jeri chuckled. "We won't get hurt, Yamaki-san. Promise. Our digimon will protect us, right Leomon?"

Leomon stood behind her, all protectiveness playing across his soft features. "We won't let you get hurt, Jeri." He swore, glancing at the other digimon. All three nodded.

Yamaki's eyes scanned each and every one of them. His arms dropped, and he sighed. "I'll check up on you every few hours, so please keep it on. I want replies when I do check up on you, because I'll probably be doing it for your parents as well." He said.

"Yes sir." Henry slipped the palm pilot into his pocket softly.

Yamaki clenched his fists and dropped his arms. "Keep yourselves safe, please. If you could only do one thing that I ask of you, let it be this. One injured kid is enough, we _don__'__t__want__four__more_. Do you understand me?"

This time, four replies came. "Yes sir." Rika set her hands on her hips and Renamon copied her. "Can we go now, Yamaki?" she asked.

Yamaki looked them over, as though to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything. Finally, "…You may go."

"Thank you." Henry turned to the portal and waved Jeri towards it, saying kindly, "ladies first." When she slid into it nervously, he did the same to Rika, effectively surprising her. At least, enough that she and Renamon went in as well.

Ryo followed her, and then Henry went. Yamaki sighed and closed the gate to keep any trespassers from finding the portal. He blinked in surprise when, as soon as he stepped back towards the park, the companion palm pilot to the one that Henry had was stolen right from his pocket.

Mie removed the stylus and started sending the kids an email, her head turned to the side. When she was finished, she sent it and gave it back to Yamaki. "Thank you for everything."

* * *

><p>Terriermon groaned from where he was and attempted to move. "Henry, you're laying on me, get off!" he exclaimed.<p>

"Whoops, sorry Terriermon." After a few seconds of children and digimon attempting to move, Henry was able to move his body and let his digimon up.

"Finally! I couldn't breathe!" the little rabbit exclaimed melodramatically, climbing to Henry's shoulder. He peered around. "It's good to know that nothing's changed, I think."

"No matter how much older you get, you humans can't be anymore graceful, can you?"

Henry gasped and spun around, knocking Terriermon from his shoulder on accident. Before him stood three boys, a rather recognizable little machine, and… Gallantmon! He quickly stood and scrambled out of the crater, followed by the other three and their digimon. "Gallantmon! It really is you!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"In the digi-code or whatever." Gallantmon's eyes flickered with amusement. He took a few steps to peer at the group. "Only four?" he asked. "Where are Kenta and Kazu?" Of course he wouldn't ask about Suzie, Ai, and Mako. He understood that they were too young to come on such a dangerous mission.

Jeri sighed. "They're being stupid, grudge-holding boys." She said, standing with Leomon's help. She fixed her headband and tugged on the jeans that she wore to straighten them out again. She climbed out of the crater to meet him and Henry, watching the three boys.

The oldest-looking one—the one with blond hair—raised his golden eyebrows, ocean blue eyes peering out from beneath his bangs as he looked the kids up and down. "Who might you be?" he asked, putting a hand on his hip.

Jeri scoffed; crossing her arms, as Ryo came up beside her and Rika came up on Henry's other side, their digimon all behind them. "We're Gallantmon's friends, I'll have you know. His _best__friends_. And Takato's too, for that matter." She said.

The older brunette chuckled a little as he looked up at Gallantmon. "_These_ are the reinforcements? A rabbit, a fox, a dragon, and a lion. I mean, the last two might work, but—"

"We can digivolve you know!" Terriermon piped up, hopping to Henry's head and glaring at the boy.

"Whatever."

Gallantmon nodded, rolling his eyes. "Be nice. Yes, these are my reinforcements. They helped me in the fight against the D-Reaper, they've been with me all the time since before that, and I'd trust them with mine _and_ Takato's lives. Besides. They, at least, have digimon with them."

Henry, ever the peacemaker, waved his hand absentmindedly. He walked out in place of Takato and put out a hand to the older brunette. "Henry Wong. And this is Terriermon. We're plenty strong, if we weren't Gallantmon wouldn't have called us, I don't think." He said. He looked the teen up and down. "What are you doing here without digimon? That's very dangerous."

The older brunette sighed, looked at him, and took his hand. "Tai Kamiya. We're here to find them. And before you ask, we've had them before." He said. He turned to direct toward the blond and the younger brunette. "Matt Ishida, and Davis Motomiya. And these would be…"

Before Henry could introduce them, Rika stepped forward, stepping a bit in front of him and daring him to try introducing them. "Rika Nonaka. And Renamon." She didn't hold out her hand, rather waiting for one of the other boys to do it first.

Matt did, rather gentlemanly. Then he held it out to Jeri, waiting for her to say something.

"Oh. Jeri Katou. And Leomon, of course." She said.

"Ryo Akiyama and Monodramon." Ryo said, his arms crossed. Monodramon huffed unhappily.

"Well good, now that we all know each other, can we go?" Gallantmon was suddenly very antsy, but Henry could see why. The digimon had always been very overprotective, especially of his cherry-eyed Tamer.

"Yeah, I'm rea—" Henry froze as something in his pocket vibrated. Figuring it to be the palm pilot already getting screwed up by the surrounding data, he pulled out the little device. "It's an email from Yamaki." He said.

"Already? We've hardly been gone five minutes." Rika furrowed her eyebrows, ignoring the _tpp_ noise of Gallantmon's toes tapping the ground anxiously.

"Well? See what it says." Ryo looked over his shoulder to read it.

Henry removed the stylus and tapped the screen, allowing the email to pop up. It read,

_Thank you, kids, for all of this. You really didn't have to do this, but I don't know what else to say, besides thank you. Takehiro's looking over my shoulder as I write this and agreeing with everything I say, so let's just say that this is from him too. Anyway, like I said, thank you. I just have one tiny request to make. If you four get in danger, get out of there. As important as my boy is, you four losing your lives for one boy is just not worth it. And besides. If you died before you brought Takato home, he probably wouldn't be coming home. Thank you so much, again. Love you. _

_~~Mie Matsuki._

Ryo snatched the device from Henry's hands. "Now isn't that sweet." He commented, reading it over again.

"Don't be mean." Jeri crossed her arms.

"I'm not." Ryo huffed, glaring at her. He handed Henry the device back.

Henry took it and slid it back into his pocket. "Well, now with her world on our shoulders, let's go."

Terriermon giggled excitedly, bouncing. "Yeah! Let's kick us some bad guy booty!"

* * *

><p>The wall bordering Drasilya must have stretched up a thousand feet, Tai exaggerated, peering up to find the top. Henry had stopped beside him curious as well at the protection of the place.<p>

Gallantmon enticed them along impatiently, leading them to the front gate. He seemed both nervous and chipper, a smile in his eyes even though he was continually wringing his hands.

"Gallantmon seems a little nervous, don't you think?" Tai asked, raising an eyebrow and leaning to the side so that Henry knew that it was him that he was talking to.

Henry glanced his way. He nodded. "Well yeah. It's _Takato_. Takato literally created him three years ago. He basically adores the kid." He agreed.

Tai glanced at him, eyebrows furrowed nervously. "You can't just _create_ a digimon." He said anxiously.

"He did it on accident. We think it was the digi-gnomes that did it really. Er, really helped him along with it. Allowed him to create him."

"…Okay… I don't really get it, but whatever." Tai sighed and shook his head.

Henry shrugged. "To be honest, I think that Takato may be the only one that does."

"Shh!" Gallantmon snapped suddenly, his shield hand back as though to stop them from moving. "This is the front gate of the legendary city of Drasilya. Right up here, I mean. You'll recognize it when you see a Knight just standing there, looking important and stuff." He explained, bending his knees to peer around.

"Gallantmon!"

"Holy Sovereigns, let this work…" he swore, stepping around. Nervously, the others followed. "Craniamon, my friend! All has been well in my absence, I trust!" Gallantmon exclaimed rather cheerfully.

"All has been well!" agreed the purple Knight standing beside tall, royal-looking gates. He gained a curious look. "But whatever are you doing home after so long?" he asked.

Henry nearly jumped when he felt a breath on his ear. He glanced back to see Rika, watching anxiously. "He sounds so sophisticated. So… so _not __Guilmon_." She hissed. He nodded in agreement.

"I merely have some business that needs to be taken care of. May I come in, I must see the Lord King Drasil?" Gallantmon fisted the end of his cape nervously.

Craniamon furrowed his eyebrows, looking at the white knight's company. "No, you may not." He said, gripping his Duo Solar Spear tightly.

Gallantmon recoiled, surprised. He normally had the second highest rank among the Knights, besides Omnimon. If he wanted something done, it got done. "And why not? He is my King as he is yours." He ventured.

"Why? Gallantmon, you know that those _creatures_ aren't to be allowed within city limits! I feel dirty just having them this close. And your pet, too, probably shouldn't be allowed in." Craniamon elucidated. His loincloth wavered in the wind and his left arm dropped. The Omni Shield on his forearm expanded.

"You mean the kids? Well, I'll have you know that—"

"Gallantmon!"

Gallantmon turned suddenly angry eyes on Grani, who had yelled at him. He knew that the steed was right, it was likely that Craniamon had no clue what was going on. "…That the matter that I have to discuss with the King is the most important thing that the King will ever be told. And if it isn't told soon, lives will be in danger."

"Like what _kinds_ of lives?" Craniamon taunted, attempting to draw the truth out of him.

"Son of a Swanmon, Craniamon, what does it matter the kinds of lives? The fact is someone _very __important_ could die if I don't get in there!"

"Oh? And who could be so important that I should allow those filthy creatures into my city? Why should I allow them to foul the very earth upon which my Master, my King, my Lord stands, when none other than Omnimon himself is allowed even near the Throne Room?" Craniamon growled. He lifted the Duo Solar Spear a little, just in case.

Gallantmon saw red. He didn't mean for it to happen, but he did. In a split second, his left hand changed to Aegis and he tackled the purple knight, slamming his trusty shield against him. The shield glowed red, and he screamed, "_SHIELD __OF __THE __JUST!__"_

Craniamon pretty much melted through the gate from the intensity of the attack. The gate's bars melted off and he smashed into the near building. He didn't move afterwards, unconscious. But Gallantmon knew that they didn't have much time.

"Come, we must go now! Craniamon is not known for sleeping long, no matter why he was out. If we have any chance of getting in, it's now! Go!" he took off without waiting for them, towards the gold-rimmed throne room.

Just as Gallantmon turned the corner to come to the front of the building, the door spread open wide and a powerful digimon stepped out, his cape fluttering behind him. Gallantmon was almost happy as he saw his friend step out, but then he remembered that the digimon had hidden the most important thing of all from him. "YOU!"

Omnimon turned to him, surprised. "Gallantmon, my friend, you've returned! And you brought friends?" he asked. He huffed in surprise when Gallantmon slammed Aegis against him, pushing him against the outer wall of the Throne Room, and Gram thrust to his neck.

"You… you… how could you! You're the worst! You said you'd help me, I thought you were on my side, but you've been fouling me all along! I thought I could _trust __you_!"

Omnimon pushed Gram out of the way and attempted to escape from Aegis. But Gallantmon was strong, even more so with anger fueling him. "Gallantmon, that's enough. Curb your words. And put Gram away, there's no need for it." He said.

"I WILL NOT PUT GRAM AWAY!" Gallantmon replied. "You lied to me, you! How could you lie to me! Especially now, about something so important! I TRUSTED YOU AND YOU LIED TO ME!"

"Gallantmon let me explain,"

"YOU KNEW HE WAS HERE!"

"…What?" Omnimon furrowed his eyebrows. He felt Gallantmon's trusty shield shaking heavily.

Gram changed back to his fist and Aegis dropped heavily. He looked up at Omnimon with wet, heartbroken eyes, as though the entire world had been placed on his shoulders and no one had bothered to help him. "You… you knew that he was here, and you never told me. How long have you known? For two years? Only one? A few days? _How __long __have __you __known, __Omnimon_?" he asked,

Omnimon's heart practically broke as he watched his frightened friend, not sure if Takato was alive or okay. As a matter of fact, Omnimon wasn't sure of those things either. "Gall—"

"_You __knew __he __was __here__…_"

Omnimon set his hands on Gallantmon's shoulders. "Gallantmon, I'd have told you, trust me, but other factors prevented me from doing so."

In a matter of seconds, Gram was once again pointed at Omnimon. "What _factors_ could have prevented you from saving the life of a child? Who could ever deserve this fate, Omnimon?" Gallantmon demanded.

"Not… not that! Trust me, if I could have told you, I would have! But… your boy would have been killed, and you, and all of the Royal Knights if I had… in fact, your boy may already _be __dead._"

Gallantmon took a step back, bumping into Leomon accidentally. "What… what do you mean, dead? He can't be dead, I'd know! I'd feel it! I know I would! He can't be dead!" he insisted.

"You'd feel it? Well, if you haven't, he might still be alive. But I normally check on him and for the past few weeks I haven't seen him at all…"

"But… he can still be alive. No, he _is_ alive. Takato wouldn't just _die_. I know he wouldn't. Alright, he's still alive." He turned with a giant grin to his company behind him. Then, he looked back at Omnimon. "Er, sorry. About yelling at you. I'm just worried about my Tamer and I want to bring him home, and when Magnamon sent me those clues I knew that it was really you, and I needed someone to blame. You were the first person. So… sorry. For the past few months, I think that I've been losing my mind."

Omnimon smiled a little behind his mask and chuckled. He patted Gallantmon's shoulder. "That's the Gallantmon that I know."


	15. Chapter 15

REWRITE

A/N: Could be better, I suppose, but what can you do? :D So, that took one month and eleven days. I'm sorry. I lost interest in digimon because of a habit of mine... I'm excited for the next one so hopefull it won't take so long!

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><p>Tai's bright brown eyes followed Omnimon's movements, darkening anxiously. Why did he recognize Omnimon's very actions? Why could he predict his every word before it was even spoken? It didn't make sense! He turned to glance at Matt, who was also watching the powerful Knight. He pushed back the blond boy when Gallantmon whipped out Gram and slashed the door right through the middle, the top falling and the bottom not bothering to stay standing either. "Hey, <em>Yggdrasil<em>! Where are you, you useless scrap of data?" the white Knight snarled.

"Pardon me, old friend, but is that how you speak to your King?"

"You, liar, are _no king of mine_!" Gallantmon growled. He stepped into the glorious throne room, arms at the ready.

Yggdrasil floated upon his pedestal, watching him, looking partially confused. "Liar? I've no idea what you're talking about, Gallantmon."

Gallantmon snarled unhappily. He lifted Gram and unleashed a powerful Lightening Joust, making sure that he had Yggdrasil's full attention. "You old Kaiser, what did you do with him? Where is my _TAKATOMON!"_

Yggdrasil paused, staring at him. He glared at Omnimon and then returned his gaze to Gallantmon. "Gallantmon, my Knight, I'm sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about. If I knew perhaps I could tell you but… I'm truly sorry. Perhaps you should see Swanmon. She could heal you right up."

Gallantmon paused, fighting the everlasting urge to kick in the face of whatever physical manifestation Yggdrasil could take. Most likely that stupid Majiramon! Unfortunately, if he satisfied that urge, he'd probably hit the 'breaking point' that Takato had been oh so frightened of hitting again. He'd either be _like_ Megidramon, or he'd _be_ Megidramon. Neither prospect sounded good, because he could hurt or kill one of his friends, or scare Jeri again. He shivered, glancing back at his little team—the three partner-less boys, the four Tamers and their partners, Grani, Omnimon, and last himself. Was he ready for this? To bring them into such a battle that it hadn't even started and he was already terrified for becoming Megidramon again? Could he bring them into a battle that could cost them their very lives?

_Please bring me home, Guilmon, wherever I am. God, please bring me back. _

His Tamer's frightened voice echoed into his mind, and he couldn't stop hearing those words. Then he knew. He knew he had to do this. He had _not_ come all of this way for nothing! They were right there, right where Omnimon had even _said_ that Takato was! He wouldn't leave without his Tamer. And besides, between he, Omnimon, the other digimon, and Grani, they could take care of those humans. _Good care_, in fact.

Yes, he could do it. And glancing once again back at his team, he saw that they knew he could do it, and they knew what they were getting into. They were all watching him, waiting for a signal. Just as they'd have done years ago for Takato, they were waiting for his orders. As if, in Takato's place, he'd becoming temporary leader of their small group. It made him feel so good, that they were comparing him to his Tamer like that. And if the roles were switched, he knew that Takato would have been feeling the same way.

On his right, Grani was snarling like a very pissed off animal. His blue eyes found Gallantmon's, and immediately, the Knight knew that he'd protect the three boys. So he could focus on getting his Takatomon back.

Gram lifted to point directly at Yggdrasil, not at his pedestal or the area around him. "You betrayed me, Yggdrasil. You promised me that you would help me to find my beloved Tamer, and you never even gave me the chance to find him on me own. And in fact, even better, you had him here, were holding him here, the whole time, since before I was here! Why? What could possibly entice you to talk away a little child? Who told you that it was okay?" he demanded unhappily. He grinned when he felt, on his left, Omnimon's WarGreymon hand lift to point the Grey Sword directly at the royal screw-up himself.

"Who told me it was okay? No one! I didn't have to be _told_ if it was _okaaayyyy_ or not." Yggdrasil sounded angry, and sarcasm dripped from that sentence like a towel that had just been dunked in deep water was being squeezed out. "We call it _survival of the fittest_! That's law around here! And if that _creature_ couldn't handle it when I did _nothing wrong_, then he obviously wasn't _fit_ to _survive!_"

Jeri was grinding her teeth the more that the mass of energy spoke. Finally she burst like a balloon, "You nearly killed a defenseless little boy! Well, congratu-_fucking_-lations! You took down someone who had _no attack_, _no defense_… you've become just some _big bully_!" she snarled. She took a step forward to join Gallantmon on the front lines, and she would have, had Leomon not set his paw on her shoulder and shook his head roughly. Now was not the time.

Gallantmon nodded in agreement at her statement. "Don't you _dare_ blame him, don't you _dare_! This was not his fault… was _never_ his fault! You have more power than him, you didn't _have _to take him!"

"Well I'm the King! Anything that I say, goes! And so, I command you to leave and go back to your stations, all of you! I'll even let you send those little humans home. I could just keep them, you know. See how nice I'm being?"

Terriermon and Renamon's fur puffed up, and Monodramon slashed his claws in Yggdrasil's general direction, all of them daring anyone to come near their partners. Grani hovered over to be above the three boys, who seemed relieved that someone wanted to protect them.

"You're no _king_… you're a dictator!" Gallantmon cried.

"At least I—"

"ENOUGH!" Omnimon lifted his MetalGarurumon head and blasted the Supreme Cannon into the ground between the two arguing forces. Gallantmon lifted his hands to block all of the flying dirt and dust, while Yggdrasil took shelter behind the pedestal.

Omnimon's powerful blue eyes found Gallantmon's emotional golden ones, and Gallantmon may as well have been reading a book, what Omnimon's was trying to tell him was so clear. _Attack him. Do it now! Don't waste time, it could be on your partner's life!_

Gram, still pointed at the place that Yggdrasil had once hovered, spoke on its own. It crackled and spat out of a jolt of powerful electricity, spiking to hit the pedestal a little, and the wall directly behind it.

All hell broke loose.

"ATTACK!"

Gallantmon leapt forward as Yggdrasil's army surged from their cages and into the recently claimed battlefield.

Within seconds, Henry, Rika, Ryo, and Jeri all biomerged to MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon, Justimon, and SaberLeomon. They quickly joined the fight.

Gallantmon fought with power, barely even using his attacks. He felt as though this was the first time that he'd ever truly been a knight. Fighting for the weak and defenseless, using his lance rather than his attacks, blocking with his shield. He felt better than he had in a long time. He didn't think that it was possible to feel better.

The digimon surrounded him mostly, understanding that he was the biggest threat. He spun and struck a few out, Gram smashing through their vital parts. Then, he thrust forward and slashed at a powerful-looking RedGreymon. The digimon snarled as it tried to escape, and slashed at him as he turned to strike the next digimon. It slashed at his back but didn't really catch anything, as far as Gallantmon could feel.

So he continued fighting, unaware that he'd lost one of the single most important things that he'd ever held.

As he spun to attack, he heard chinks. They didn't sound like chinks from his armor, and he figured that it was the D-Power, striking digimon as he spun.

"Gah! Get this thing… offame!" one digimon cried, fighting with something that looked true red, though maybe a little dirtied from exposure.

Gallantmon turned its way, only curious to see whom was helping him to fight this mass. That was when he noticed that it had stepped back several paces, still fighting the blood red cloth. Getting a second glance, he realized it wasn't just any blood red cloth. That was _his_ blood red cloth. That was his cape! And the digimon was too far away for it to still be attached to his back… his cape was gone! Torn off, ripped off like a piece of trash!

Gallantmon then realized something even worse. There had been something attached to that cape, something that if Gallantmon ever lost, he'd kill himself to get it back. That something… his Tamer's machine. The holder of his beloved Tamer's message. The only way to possibly get ahold of Henry, Rika, and all the others.

Upon hearing a little chink from above, Gallantmon knew it was true…

Takato's D-Power was gone!


	16. Chapter 16

REWRITE

A/N: I enjoy this chapter. One of my personal favorites. I love making Takato depressed and getting him back out of it. Actually, I love the way that he sees Yggdrasil, and everything else in this story. It's weird. Different. I like it.

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><p>Takato groaned and shifted a little upon hearing the soft <em>chink<em> in the cage. He wondered what it was. It's not as though anything knew he was even _here_, besides Yggdrasil and the Majiramon. So what could possibly have made that noise?

Sweat beaded his brow, blood still bled from his stomach, he was still dying. He felt sick, sick because he hadn't eaten, hadn't drunk, could hardly feel anything at all… but he hoped he'd be fine. He'd been doing it for two years.

He shifted again, finally deciding to pay attention to what was around him. He lifted his head and spotted the thing that had entered his cage.

And it took him a few seconds to register. At first he didn't recognize it. Once he did, he couldn't believe it. After all, if _that_ were here, that meant that someone had found it where it was buried, hidden in the sand, all those years ago. And even better, upon finding it, they had discovered what his hidden message had meant, probably. Maybe. Which meant that, maybe, someone was here for him. To find him.

Maybe that someone was Gallantmon. If he was lucky, it would be.

Takato pushed himself closer. Closer, closer, and closer still to that little machine. Finally, feeling as though it had taken hours rather than little over a minute, he closed his hand around it, and pulled it closer. He touched it, touched the screen, the buttons, the plastic sides, the clasp… it was as though this was all new to him. It was as though he'd found it for the very first time, as though he were still in his room, going through his cards.

It looked worse for wear. The screen was cracked and it fizzed. It probably wouldn't be able to work perfectly. But maybe it would. Maybe. Maybe, if he could get ahold of some cards, he could help whatever was going on below.

Whatever _that_ was. The whole 'pay attention to what was around him' had gone right through the bars as soon as he'd spotted the D-Power. Glancing around him, he saw that he was within pushing distance of a nearby bar. He could grab it and pull himself to the edge of the cage and see what in limbo was going on.

So he did. He pushed with his feet and pulled with his arms, and was eventually able to wrap his left hand—the hand not clutching his D-Power—around one of the bars. With it, he pulled himself to the edge and stared down.

He couldn't see very well what was going on. People were fighting, someone was very mad. A few someones, actually. Quite a few. They were rocking the place; Takato could feel his cage swinging minutely. Sharp zaps of lightning were hitting the walls in all directions, from one. Ice and fire were at its side, along with things that Takato couldn't see but could hear.

As though from the very depths of hell, from Satan himself, a voice sprung upwards towards Takato, maybe on purpose and maybe not. "ROYAL KNIGHTS!" of course, he recognized that voice. Yggdrasil. The one thing that had made his life hell. He winced, as if the scream was coming for him, as though Yggdrasil were flying up to hurt him again. He had a feeling, though, that Yggdrasil was too busy with whomever he was fighting.

On command, the Knights burst into the throne room. They immediately started firing off attack after attack, feeling the need to protect Yggdrasil.

Takato, for one, couldn't see any reason to protect the jerk.

Takato didn't want to watch the fight—for fear that whoever it was that was fighting Yggdrasil would lose—yet he couldn't keep himself from looking, for that exact reason. He couldn't turn away when red beams and bolts of lightning struck the walls, Knights, floors, and digimon.

Takato opened his mouth in pain and surprise, releasing a shaky, shuttering gasp, when one of the attackers hit UlforceVeedramon as he was about to attack, shooting his Ray of Victory into the sky and eventually against the cage, rocking it as though it were in an earthquake. Takato would have screamed if he still had the energy, so he clutched the bars and his D-Power, hoping for the shaking to stop.

It did after a full minute, as something slid out of his pocket and over the edge. Takato glanced its way just in time for him to see the green and blue back of the thing.

A digimon card.

Curiously, Takato slipped his hand into his pocket, surprised to find that he had one of his smaller decks. He pulled it out and forced himself to his knees painfully, releasing breath after deep breath. He started sifting through the deck, amazed to find that he had some powerful cards in it.

The card on top was one of the most useful. A strength card. A few other helpful cards were in the pack, so he set those aside and set down the pile with digimon on the cards. Maybe he could use those attacks to help.

"Lightning Joust! Take that, bastard!" one of the attacking voices laughed, followed closely by a powerful explosion. Takato winced, recognizing the voice. Thinking that he might recognize the voice at least. It made sense, then, why he was in there, if it was who he thought the voice might be.

Takato turned down to his D-Power. The screen was glowing, illuminating Takato's face eerily, as if it could feel the power that the cards around it held. Shakily, he reached down to swipe it up, snatching up the Strength card as well. Begging to himself that he had the heart to do this well, to give his friend strength, he muttered in a voice that could hardly be heard but was still stronger than it had been in years, "Digi-modify… Strength, Activate!"

He didn't bother to give a glance to perhaps see the effects that the card made on _his digimon, his partner_… Rather, he just dug back into the pile of useful cards to find his favorite ones: WarGreymon's Great Shield, Hyper Wings, Hyper Speed, and all of the Strength cards he could find. Setting the Wings, Speed, and Strength cards in his lap, he weakly lifted the Great Shield, slashing it with words hardly spoken but with more heart than Takato had ever felt. It felt… good. Good to be this useful, even if they (they or he? He wasn't sure. It seemed like more than one) didn't know that he was hanging directly above their heads.

His curiosity peaked, so he tugged himself to the edge—along with all of the cards and the D-Power—and glanced over, to see just what that Great Shield had done.

This was easier to see. He recognized the suddenly much larger symbol—the Hazard Symbol. The shape rested on the shield that now extended to twice the height of the user of that shield—his Gallantmon—and any attacks shooting its way were bouncing off, leaving not a scratch on the impenetrable surface.

Grinning minutely to himself, he slashed the other three cards, and he could barely hear the others talking, asking his white knight what in the name of Azulongmon was happening to him, followed shortly by an anxious and slightly frightened cry of "I have no clue!"

Having used all of the support cards that he wanted to use, he dug into the attack cards, to see what would be the most useful. He tucked aside safely the card that he rarely used, though considering Yggdrasil's powers, would be the most helpful.

One card slipped out and clopped to the floor beside him noisily. He looked down at it, recognizing the round, red shape of JumboGamemon, a Cyborg digimon. He furrowed his eyebrows and reached shaky hands down to acquire the small slip of cardboard. He flipped it over, as though some vast knowledge could be found on the back that could never be on the front, and then squinted at it. Shaking his head, his heart and head pounding painfully, he lifted his hands and with a quivery voice, spoke, "D-Digi-modify! J-JumboG-G-Gamemon's M-Megat-t-ton Hydro, A-Activate!"

Far below, Gallantmon had just been preparing his Lightning Joust for a quick, painful deletion of one of the army digimon. So when he raised Gram to strike, he was obviously amazed to find water spewing out of the tip of the lance, along with electricity. Takato could have laughed from the amazed, excited look that Gallantmon's body gave. His entire stance was back, unbalanced, but heroic and prepared at the same time.

It did, at least, work, taking out the MetalGreymon with ease.

A high, haughty voice laughed, and exclaimed, "wow! Haha, do that again! Or better yet, me! I wanna do it!"

Takato didn't have to hear it, to know what was said next. An exasperated but amused sigh, followed closely by, "Terriermon…" and then of course Terriermon's chipper, renowned reply, "Momentai, Henry!"

It was as though nothing had changed. Not even he, being missing for some odd amount of time, had changed their attitudes and quirks. As though they were a painting, and he had simply been painted over, as though he hadn't mattered at all. Maybe he _hadn't_ mattered at all. Maybe he'd hardly been an acquaintance to them, little more than someone that they might have passed on the street.

Something deep inside him, deeper than deep, deeper than his heart, his conscience, his brain told him differently. He didn't know what it was, but despite these twisted feeling of despair nestled inside him, he knew that in some way or another, to them he'd mattered. To them, he meant something, be it a pivotal point, someone to talk to, anything. The fact of the matter was that he _meant something_.

'Why else would they be here now?'

The entire room shook with the next event. Looking down, Takato watched a powerful lion smash into the wall and slump. The digimon glowed and dedigivolved, into a smaller lion and a girl.

"_No, Jeri_!"

He recognized that voice as Rika. It was hard to forget her voice, very hard. A fox digimon—Sakuyamon, Takato reminded himself—sped over to the girl and crouched, checking her to make sure that she was alright. Then, she turned to her anxious friends. Takato knew that she was telling them to fight; she could protect the girl and the lion. And Takato himself knew that she could. Rika may have been a bitch some of the time, but she was one hell of a fighter.

Gallantmon stared at her, and then looked down at Jeri, as though to make sure she was alright himself. Then he said something, nodded, and turned back to Yggdrasil. He raised his voice a little, just a little. Not so much that Takato could hear, but he figured from the anger framing his entire body, he was probably cursing the dictator to all levels of limbo.

Yggdrasil expanded, Takato could see that. He did that when he was mad. Then, he disappeared. Looking around frantically, wanting to warn them but having no possible way to do so, he searched for the mass of energy. His eyes were immediately drawn toward Majiramon, who was acting different from before. More in control. Even from where he was, Takato could see those horrible silver eyes gleaming out where red ones normally were. It made him wince, it scared him, because that, _that_ was the beast that constantly attacked him. Not just the Majiramon, but the _silver-eyed Majiramon_. The Majiramon that Yggdrasil chose to control.

The Majiramon tutted loudly, shaking its head, almost with amusement. It spoke, loud enough so that Takato could hear, entirely on purpose. "Gallantmon. Gallantmon, Gallantmon… _Gallantmon_. My glorious, hazard-bearing Knight. My little, traitorous, betraying, un-trustful Knight." It was speaking calmly. Very calmly, but Takato could hear the anger dripping from its voice. He had had that voice used on him many a time. He knew that it was just refraining from strangling Gallantmon and tearing him apart.

Gallantmon signaled at the group to stop fighting. Around him, they all stopped, Royal Knights and the army included. Takato was amazed by the control he had. "_What_?" he spat.

"Gallantmon. Did I _not_ tell you that I would, in due time, help you find your little _creature_? Well, perhaps I simply wanted to wait just a few days longer. Perhaps I would have brought you to it the day afterward." Yggdrasil's voice was tight, angry, and he was trying very hard to keep it that way.

"My _creature_? Who's the creature here? The one who has been dehumanized, or the one doing the dehumanizing?" Gallantmon snarled, shifting Gram back to a hand. However, Aegis stayed where it was, still not completely back to the size it originally was. "So, when would you have brought him to me? Would you have killed him first? Killed him, and brought him to me saying that you'd found him, to be a hero? Would you have gotten off scot-free for _murder_?"

Yggdrasil gave an amused snort, deep in his throat. "Murder? Hmm, if you want to call it that." He shook his head, swinging his long arms. Then, his eyes hardened darkly, Takato could see that. He knew that look. He was going to do something drastic, something extreme, something dangerous. And if Takato knew Yggdrasil like he knew Yggdrasil, then he knew exactly who this drastic thing was going to be done to.

"Well, my dearest of Royal Knights, as they say, 'patience is a virtue'. Just as I would gladly have rewarded you for your patience, I shall—haha, shall we say—_reward_ you for your _im_patience."

Takato shivered when those eyes narrowed into his, the Majiramon staring at him. He knew that he was dead. He would die, today, before Gallantmon could save him, talk to him, _see him_ perhaps. In the next five minutes, he'd be no more than a burnt corpse, on the floor of this cage, stuck here forever. The thought terrified him.

"_You wanted your BOY, Gallantmon?_" Yggdrasil snarled.

This was it. Takato sucked in a deep breath, knowing with almost one hundred percent certainty that this would be the last breath he took, that he'd never taste the tasteless, odorless oxygen around him ever again. He said a quick goodbye/apology to his parents, hoping they wouldn't be too mad that he'd never even said goodbye to their faces.

"_Well then COME AND GET HIM_!" Majiramon spread its maw wide, still staring into Takato's cherry red orbs. It didn't even waste a breath building up the flames, just screamed "FLAMING ARROWHEADS!"

Takato could only hope that it would be over with soon.


	17. Chapter 17

REWRITE

Gallantmon didn't need to be told twice—or even once, for that matter—just exactly what Majiramon was aiming his Flaming Arrowheads at. He'd known, known all along, that Takato was in here, somewhere. Checking the cages, he didn't see him in there, but he was stashed somewhere above. The card that Justimon had caught fluttering down merely reassured him of this thought.

"FLAMING ARROWHEADS!" Flames burst from the gaping maw of the powerful dragon, shooting into the sky, illuminating the ceiling and some kind of large birdcage. The cage was struck and swung backwards, as though to avoid the flames.

Not even taking a second to think, Gallantmon unhitched Aegis and held it like a hula hoop, beneath one arm. With an almighty flick of the wrist, Aegis went flying in the general direction of those flames, to block, protect, do whatever he could for whatever was in the cage.

His aim—thank the Sovereigns—was true. It slid into the flames, shielding the living creature in the cage (why else would Yggdrasil have aimed for it?) from harm. Aegis took the heat for only a few seconds before being pushed backwards, smashing against the cage bars. The pressure of the attack kept it there, at least, rather than letting it drop to the ground below.

Those flames had engulfed the cage long enough, though, for Gallantmon to see what truly had been aimed at. They'd been there long enough for him to see what he'd come for. Though he looked near-dead, though he looked so scared, so tired, so ready to give up, he recognized the face. Dulled cherry eyes watched, horrified, knowing that his end had come, from the head of his_ Takatomon._

The cage heaved and groaned from the pressure, the chains weakened, no longer able to hold up the weight of the cage. Aegis slid down its side and spun to clash to the ground near MegaGargomon's feet. The machine faithfully retrieved the shield and held it, waiting for Gallantmon's next move. Finally, after several seconds of Gallantmon's heart beating louder and louder, so loud that had fighting been going on, he'd have been unable to hear the fight, the cage gave a final groan and the chain snapped, propelling the cage and Takato to the relentless digital earth below.

"No… _TAKATO!"_ Gallantmon heaved a step forward, skillfully catching Aegis when MegaGargomon threw it to him. He lifted Gram and shot lightning toward the cage, so that maybe Takato could get away though he knew it was impossible. A few bars tumbled away, and a fresh idea sprouted in Gallantmon's mind. Determined to protect his boy, he turned and jumped backwards, blasting a Shield of the Just at the ground, propelling him to the sky, to Takato. This had to work, this _had_ to work, had to had to had to…

It wouldn't work. This wouldn't get him high enough. He was going to miss, maybe even be squashed beneath the cage. Takato may even be his death.

"Gallantmon! Gargo Missile!"

Gallantmon heard something blast, and soon felt something touch his feet. He felt it push him, felt the powerful force push him closer, closer to Takato, closer to the past three years' goal.

He managed to slide in between the bars just before the missile hit the cage and spun it. In the confusion, he managed to locate his falling Tamer, who looked to be unconscious, certainly very out of it. He slid his arms around the boy's body, clasped him to his breastplate, tight, reveling in the comfort that it provided him. He heard a tiny groan, the tiniest of tiny groans, from his Tamer, knew that the boy was uncomfortable, but at the same time knew that there was nothing to be done about such a problem. He merely clutched Takato tighter and fell with the cage, fell to the ground, possibly to their deaths. And considering the rate that the cage was falling compared to them, _death_ was a definite possibility.

The cage slammed into the ground loudly, kicking up lots of dust, blinding them and everyone outside the cage. Gallantmon encircled Takato in his entire body, hit the ground sketchily on his feet, and crumpled to his knees. He peered down at his little Tamer, whose eyes were squeezed shut, knowing that death was probably upon them.

Gallantmon coughed and waved one of his hands in front of his face, not even realizing that he'd retracted Gram and Aegis until just now. His fingers tightened around Takato's shoulder, and he listened for any sign that the boy was alive and would respond. Listened for anything, really, just in case Yggdrasil tried to attack again. "Takato?" he whispered very quietly, still listening, always listening. "Takato, it's me… _I'm here_…"

He shook his head when Takato didn't respond and laid a free hand across the boy's chest, feeling desperately for a heartbeat. His arm went slack when he finally felt it. It was hardly more than a murmur, very weak, but it was there. It was still pumping blood, still working correctly. Takato was still alive.

"Gallantmon?"

Gallantmon looked up, and could see shadows forming in the dust. His friends were coming closer. "I'm fine. I'm alright. Thank you, MegaGargomon."

MegaGargomon responded with a soft nod. He could barely see it, but it was there.

"G-Guilmon?"

Gallantmon paused, thinking at first that he'd only imagined it, the voice was so quiet. But then he looked down.

Takato's eyes were open. They were hardly cracked open enough to actually _be_ open, but they were. Gallantmon could just see the red irises, peering out at him, watching him to see if he was truly real.

"Takato! Takato, that's right, it's me, I'm here… and I'm not leaving you." Gallantmon purred happily, not caring that Takato had only called him Guilmon. Who cared, Takato was alive, safe, recognized him as _him_! Takato could go home!

Takato started shaking. He lifted one hand and rested it on Gallantmon's forearm. Then he nestled tightly against Gallantmon, glad for the comforting touch.

"Gallantmon, is Takato alright?" That was Jeri. She sounded afraid, anxious, and she was standing right at the bars of the cage, latched tightly onto them. Leomon stood behind her, his arms crossed.

"I… I think so. He's a little out of it right now, but I think he'll come through."

Jeri heaved a sigh of relief, collapsing to her knees. "Thank god!"

"Mhh." Gallantmon nodded softly. He stopped, he was hearing something. Something weird. Bad. _Dangerous_.

"Shock Ringer!" "Scarlet Tempest!" "Dragon's Roar!" "Pendragon's Glory!" "Inferno Frost!" "Black Aura Blast!" "Magna Blast!" "Ray of Victory!"

Gallantmon cursed. He folded even more so into Takato and turned his left hand toward the attacks, sending out Aegis without a second's thought. He knew that the power was also being blocked by all of their friends behind them. But he couldn't allow Takato to be hurt. He _wouldn't_ allow Takato to be hurt.

"Come out of there and fight us, coward!" that was Leopardmon, ever the challenger. He didn't sound happy, cracking his neck. His sword was probably still sizzling from the attack.

"Coward?" Takato's voice was tiny, shaking. It was as though he hadn't spoken at all. But Gallantmon heard him loud and clear. "No. I'm no coward." He breathed, half to the boy, half to himself, and only a smidgen to Leopardmon. He forced himself to stand and stepped on one of the bars, rolling the cage enough that the large opening was facing the crowd rather than the ground. He unceremoniously dumped Takato into Sakuyamon's arms, who scrambled to get a tight, comfortable hold on him. He stepped forward to the front of the group, Gram springing forth to the ready. "I am _no coward_."

"You were hiding behind your band of _merry men_." Craniamon commented, his arms crossed, his Duo Solar Spear stabbed in the ground.

"Merry men?" Rika asked, flinching once, eliciting the smallest of groans from the boy in her arms. She tightened Sakuyamon's arms around him and hefted him a little higher.

"I was not _hiding_." Gallantmon spat. He narrowed his eyes. "I was protecting my boy."

"Your _boy_? Oh, aren't you _quite _done with that?" Craniamon demanded.

Magnamon blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, peering around Gallantmon to look at Takato. Then he glanced toward Omnimon, who gave a firm nod. He nodded in reply, taking a step back.

Kentaurosmon whinnied and snarled, "no matter what your thoughts, you attacked the King!"

"The King attacked a boy!" Gallantmon replied darkly.

Sakuyamon glanced around, and gently dropped Takato into Leomon's arms when he held them out. Then she stepped forward—along with MegaGargomon, Justimon, and Omnimon—to stand beside Gallantmon. Leomon held him tightly, stepping in front of Jeri protectively. "Gallantmon is not at fault, all that he's doing is what he came to do two years ago!" she said darkly.

"So he's an assassin." The Royal Knights were prepared to spring.

"No!" Gallantmon held out Aegis and Gram. "I've come to retrieve my Takato, not to kill the King. If he gets in the way, there's nothing I can do." He said.

UlforceVeedramon shook his head. "There's no excuse for an attempt on the King's life." He said. "No matter who you are."

Gallantmon snorted in reply, his eyes level. "Look, I just want my Tamer back. I don't want any trouble. I'd gladly bring him home right now! But…"

Leopardmon and Craniamon went to the door, holding out their weapons, daring them to try and leave.

Gallantmon shook his head. "Thought as much. Well, fine. We can do this the hard way." He swiveled his head around on his shoulders, cracking his neck sweetly. Taking up his lance and shield powerfully, with Grani at his side, he sped into attack with the nearest Knight, clashing his lance against his sword.

Jeri looked up at Takato when she noticed the heavy wince he gave at the noise, trying to peer over Leomon's arms and watch his partner. She shook her head and signaled at Leomon to set him down.

MegaGargomon shifted anxiously, listening in for his Tamer to say they could fight. "Henry?"

Henry nodded in his little bubble, glaring out at the Knights through MegaGargomon's eyes. He watched as Gallantmon thrust and slash, landing powerful square hits on them. "Go ahead."

With an excited "Woo hoo!" MegaGargomon withdrew his cannons and guns and leapt into battle, followed closely by Sakuyamon and Justimon.

Jeri crouched beside Takato, who was trying to force himself to sit up, despite her hand on his chest to keep him from doing exactly that. "You are… you're so dumb sometimes, Mr. Matsuki." She said softly, her eyes half-mast.

Takato glanced her way and smiled a little. "S-Sorry?" he offered quietly.

Jeri quickly shook her head in reply. She shifted a little, sitting and crossing her legs beside him. "Don't you dare be sorry. Not for this."

Takato nodded minutely and closed his eyes again, trying to allow himself enough energy to at least stay awake. At the moment, his own emotions were taking up so much energy. He was excited, frightened, anxious… he felt like he wanted to cry and yell out and punch something all at the same time. It was as though thinking was taking up his energy.

"Hey, Takato?"

Takato blinked his eyes open and winced, forcing a groan down, when he saw something pushed into his face. He couldn't see around it. "Uh…"

"This is a digimon card, Takato. It was sticking out of your pocket. Have you been slashing? Were all of those attacks that Gallantmon hadn't known where they were from, from you?" Jeri pulled back the card and watched him, her eyes unhappy and worried.

"I… hadda help."

"You _had_ to help?" she looked back down at the card and sighed. "Not at such a high cost, Takato. You were wasting energy, and for what?"

"Not… not wastin'."

Jeri closed her eyes briefly. "No, you're right. Not wasting. But knowing the state that you are already in, and since most of this isn't burns, besides that nasty thing on your stomach, you shouldn't have done that. You should have maybe dropped the cards and let _us _do the slashing. _We _had full energy to do it."

Takato stared at her for a few more seconds and then closed his eyes again.

With a sigh, Jeri nodded and turned back to the battle, holding onto the card that she'd pulled from his pocket.

She noticed the sudden shift in attitude from that strange Majiramon. While before, it had been cocky, now it was a little anxious, judging by the way it was swinging its head around.

"Y-you see 't too, th'n?"

Jeri looked at Takato, whose eyes were open again, watching the same thing she was. "You should be resting."

"H-he knows he's losin'. He's n-not too h-happy." He paused, and suddenly his eyebrows shot up. "Hnh… that attack!"

"Lay back down!" Jeri gently tackled him, pushing him back down until he was flat on the ground. Leomon was on one knee, prepared to help. "He isn't using an attack. You're seeing things, probably from all of the blood you lost. Now stay down and don't attract attention. Gallantmon will keep us safe."

Takato shook his head. "He's gon' use that attack. An' then Guilmon can' prote't us, or anybody, 'sides maybe Yggdrasil."

"What attack are you talking about?" Jeri shook her head and turned back, lifting her hands from his chest. She grimaced, seeing the blood coating her palms. As far as she could see as she stared at the battlefield, the Majiramon wasn't doing anything different or weird. Not yet. But then, Takato _had_ been here for two years. Maybe he knew something that they didn't.

"Here comes…" Takato forced himself to reach into his pocket and pull out the small deck, going through them one at a time, checking them over once, twice, three times. He clutched the bottom one like a lifeline and started shaking.

Yggdrasil shook his head and snarled out, "Ha! With this attack I cannot lose!" he lifted his hands above his head and cupped them. A small, periwinkle ball started glowing in them, glowing and expanding.

"Can't le' 'im!"

"Hush." Jeri cupped her hand over Takato's mouth and started petting his hair with the other, begging him silently to keep quiet.

Takato's eyes flicked up to her, but he obediently stayed silent, until he felt it necessary to speak again.

"I will cut you all down by the cruelest of fates, and how truly wonderful this will be! I cannot contain my excitement! You humans will _nevermore _be a problem in _my Digital World_! _POWER STRUGGLE!"_

"No!"

"Shh." Jeri shook her head, watching as the periwinkle ball exploded, coating the entire room in a fine dust. It avoided Leomon, and the kids, but coated everyone else.

Seconds later, MegaGargomon, Justimon, and Sakuyamon stiffened fiercely and expelled Henry, Rika, and Ryo. All three landed painfully and struggled to sit up. They pushed themselves back, until they were within 10 feet of Takato, Jeri, and Leomon.

"What just happened?" asked Ryo.

"Yeah, what gives? Is he _trying_ to lose? Now we can just use our cards!" Rika agreed.

"'S not that."

Henry froze for a second and then glanced over at Takato. "What? D'you say something?"

"Just watch. Th' 'tack wasn't supposed tah de-dig'volve you guys. They've chan'ed sides now."

"They haven't. They wouldn't do that."

Takato shook his head gravely and looked back at the battlefield. The others also glanced that way.

Slowly, the digimon's eyes faded into a black nothingness. They went over to the Knights and turned to face the humans, who now had no defense besides Leomon. They cowered in fright, all of them understanding that this may truly be the day that they die.

Takato's eyes stared at Gallantmon, who had been facing away from them, towards the Knights. He noticed that Gram started sparking with powerful electricity.

Gallantmon turned very slowly. He ignored the other humans; black, soulless eyes glaring into Takato's red orbs. Takato felt Jeri clutch his hand, and he held hers just as tightly.

Gram lifted, the tip pointed directly at Takato's stomach wound. Gallantmon's voice held neither remorse nor warmth as he spoke out the horrid words that would surely signal death, "Lightning. Joust."


	18. Chapter 18

REWRITE

A/N: Either next chapter, or two chapters away, Takato gets to come home! Squeeee! :D I'm so excited for that to happen! Anyone else?

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><p>Static filled the air and started to jump from Gram's tip to Takato.<p>

"No!" Jeri yelped in surprise and covered Takato with her entire body, feeling the need to protect him when he was in such a weak state. Leomon immediately pounced on both of them, digging his claws into Takato's ripped shirt to lift them both. He leapt several feet away with a few seconds to spare before the electricity hit the spot that Takato had been just seconds ago.

"What the hell was that about?" Rika demanded, watching the two as Leomon set them down.

Takato coughed, still watching Gallantmon, who didn't look happy that he'd missed. "Tol'jou. Th-they're on Yggdras'l's si'e now." He said quietly.

Rika shook her head. "That's not possible." She doubted, her eyebrows furrowing darkly.

Leomon watched the digimon that had previously been on their side. "But it is." He said, his ears flicking. "Watch how they move. They're completely under that Majiramon's control."

Henry watched MegaGargomon, who constantly looked back at the Majiramon before finally deciding to lay a Mega Barrage on them.

"But why? That's not fair!"

Henry shook his head, agreeing. "Maybe not fair to us, but to him, it is!" he cried.

MegaGargomon giggled and launched yet another Mega Barrage, aiming straight for Henry. When his Tamer ran for it, he laughed maniacally and followed.

Ryo took the time to notice that Justimon, Gallantmon, Sakuyamon, and MegaGargomon were only attacking their own Tamers. He voiced his concerns, so he, Henry, and Rika expertly avoided each other and Takato. At the same time as they tried to run their digimon out of energy, the Royal Knights (all of them, Omnimon and Magnamon included) were also trying to kill them. Soon enough, they would be out of energy, rather than the digimon.

Leomon panted, his chest heaving. Much like the kids, he was beat. He had to defend two kids against Gallantmon—the strongest of the Tamed digimon _and_ one of the strongest Knights—and a few other Knights. He was only a Champion, all of the others were Megas. There was no way that he could last for much longer.

Jeri watched him, still crouching by Takato. Takato's blood loss was starting to wear him out, so he was trying to avoid paying attention to anything but rest, which was helping and hurting him. He could be in very real danger.

Just then, a spark of pink flashed into her right eye, and she looked over just in time to warn Leomon. "Leomon… _look out_!"

Leomon spun and met the attacking Crusadermon with a powerful Fist of the Beast King. If he'd done it any later, he'd surely be deleted.

Crusadermon leapt backwards and hovered, snarling, "You won't be able to protect them forever, _Champ_." Then she took off to find a more vulnerable human.

Leomon shook a little. "I'll protect them as long as I can." He muttered.

"Leomon, are you okay?" Jeri asked, scrambling to her feet to stand at his side.

"Perfectly. Thanks for the warning, Jeri. I wouldn't have survived without it."

Jeri grinned and nodded in reply, happy to help.

Crusadermon hovered above the ground, looking for any vulnerable enemies. She looked to the right and soon spotted those three strange boys with—what had Gallantmon called it?—Grani. Grani was in front of them, peering around, trying to protect them against any enemies.

But… one powerful Mega could easily beat—no, destroy—one steed that had to defend three boys. In fact, easy-peasy-Citramon-squeezy.

With a grin, the powerful pink Mega cracked her knuckles and threw her hands forward, to the boys. "_Spiral Masquerade_!" She didn't notice that at the same time as she said this, Magnamon looked toward the boys as well.

Tai and Matt, at least, had enough sense to run away from the deadly attack, easily avoiding the streaming yellow ribbons. Davis, however, was frozen in shock, his mouth agape, staring into the soulless eyes of Crusadermon.

"Davis!" Tai and Matt yelped, trying to convince him to move out of the way. But he didn't hear them.

"_DAVIS!_"

Smoke billowed out where the ribbons hit, ballooning out to fly into Matt and Tai's eyes and distract them.

Tai coughed and looked around, his hand on his brow. "Davis? Davis, answer me!"

Nothing. There was no reply. His heart pounding, Tai moved further into the smoke, watching for the silhouette of their friend, probably dead on the floor. "Come on Matt, we've got to find him! Ohh no, Jun's going to kill us!"

Matt made to move in, but then the smoke started clearing. He coughed and peered into the clearing smoke.

Davis wasn't where he'd been standing, but the ribbons were stuck to the ground. Crusadermon was attempting to tug them out, and failing miserably. Though she looked very unhappy, the older boys were unsure of what it was.

Then they saw.

Magnamon was curled up on the ground, just outside of the attack. He looked like he was in pain, but was clutching something—or some_one_—as if his life depended on it. He groaned, and dropped his arms, allowing the thing to roll out.

_Davis_.

Davis' heart was pounding as he looked up at Magnamon, who had almost given his own life to save his. He licked his lips, watching the powerful digimon. "Magnamon…"

Pain filled red eyes turned up to look at Davis, and he offered a wry grin. "Davis… my _friend_…" he breathed. He groaned and gasped, squeezing his eyes shut. He glowed ominously and shrank.

Davis approached the tiny creature lying where Magnamon had once lain. He was now little more than a little blue human shaped thing. He was curled in a ball; eyes still squeezed shut, as if he was still in pain. "V-Veemon…?" he stammered, resting one hand on his forearm.

Veemon uncurled and opened his eyes, blinking. He coughed into the floor and looked up at Davis, releasing a roughly amused laugh. "Figures," he commented, shaking his little head, "I've been searching and searching and _searching_ for a way to get back to you for years, but it's _you_ who find me. But of course you would. You're Davis…"

Despite the touching scene below, Crusadermon was still tugging at the ribbons. She finally yanked them out, rubbing her hands along the fine yellow surface. She glared at the little victim to her vicious attack, prepared to make him pay for not allowing her to make her kill. "Scarlet Tempest!" she exclaimed. Below her, winds started whipping.

Veemon sucked in a deep breath and forced himself to his feet. He growled, clenching his little fists. "Davis, Davis! I'm ready when you are, Davis! I'm ready to digivolve!"

Davis was still on his knees, now staring at the young dragon's back. He was astounded that powerful Magnamon had turned out to be his friend—his _partner_!—all along. It made him feel stronger, knowing that in losing two Royal Knights, they had gained another, to replace them. He could only hope that Veemon and Leomon would be able to fight well enough.

He grinned, proud. So proud, he was, of his little partner. He, too, stood, just behind Veemon. "I've got your back, buddy!" he held out his D3 as if he were presenting it to the world. "Digi-armor energize!"

Veemon grinned, shaking his head as power filled his entire being. "_Veemon_ armor digivolve to… _Flamedramon_! The Fire of Courage!"

For the first time in five years, Flamedramon stood tall, his flame armor shining as if it had been recently polished. He grinned, clenching his fists. "Wow! I haven't felt _this_ good in years! It's all thanks to you, Davis!" He leapt up into the air and blasted shots of fire at the Knights. "Fire Rocket!" With flame broiling around him, he tackled Sakuyamon, the nearest enemy, and spun away with a witty, "Come at me honey, betcha can't catch me!" he leapt away laughing.

Takato passively watched the performance, half-glad that someone was having their day go right. He rubbed his thumb over the back of the card, caressing it as if it were a love letter from someone he liked. In his other hand, the D-Power fizzed as the grip on it was weakened, strengthened, and weakened yet again. He forced himself to sit up so he had a better view of the battle, looking around to see who was best to reverse first. He was prepared, prepared to use that little card just when the time was right. With this, he could really screw Yggdrasil. But again, only if it's used at the right time.

Like, maybe, now.

"Digi-m-modify!"

"Lightning—"

"_Role Reverse_, activate!"

"—Joust!"

Justimon blinked and shook his head, coming to. He looked astounded and confused, peering around at the wreckage. It took him little more than a second to notice what Gallantmon was aiming at, and two more seconds to block the attack and knock him away, daring the powerful Mega closer.

Takato was out of breath, panting again. He squeezed his eyes shut for five seconds and slashed the card again, dropping his arms to the ground again.

MegaGargomon quit chasing Henry and launched a missile at Sakuyamon, knocking her off balance and away from Rika.

Another slash.

Sakuyamon swung her staff around, hitting a Royal Knight in the stomach, though she didn't bother to figure out whom.

Jeri's mouth dropped open, watching in amazement as the tide turned from completely against them to _they may actually have a chance of winning this thing_. She was overjoyed, excited that maybe, just maybe, Takato really could come home. She glanced back at him, curious if he was excited as she was, or even realized what their digimon returning to them meant. He didn't seem to do either, but Jeri didn't bother to tell him. "Takato? What's wrong?"

Sweat trickled down Takato's face, and he was sucking in deep breaths. His arms dropped to the ground again, and the D-Power and card finally slid out. He leaned back against the wall, trying to breathe normally, but the more he moved the more he sweated. Something had expended a _shitload_ of energy in the past few minutes. Jeri really didn't think that it was possible.

Jeri dropped to her knees beside him, demanding to know what was wrong. When he didn't answer, she took up the D-Power and the card, looking over it to see what he'd been doing. She kept glancing at him, to make sure that he didn't collapse on her. She narrowed her eyes and rounded on him, showing him the card. "Takato Matsuki, you _idiot_! What made you think this was a good idea! A _quarter_ of your energy! Is winning this thing worth it if you _die_?"

"G-give i' back…" Takato breathed.

"No! Did you know, Takato, that every time you use this, it takes away a _quarter_ of your energy. A quarter, yeah! Oh, but the great Takato didn't think about that, did he? No, he's survived two years in hell and he thinks he can do _anything_! Well, you _can't_, and I'd prefer it if you didn't try!" She squeezed her fists, shaking a little. "You didn't think about how much your death would have hurt us, after coming so far. And it certainly wouldn't have helped Gallantmon!" she pointed up at the confused white knight, who was struggling to hold his own against the three Megas and Flamedramon.

"I'm _just helping_…" Takato breathed, his eyes to the floor.

"_Helping_? No! You stay out of the way, you're putting _waaayy_ too much at risk. Here's an idea, let me do it!"

"A-absol-lutely n-not! It'll s-sap y-your energ-gy!" Takato insisted, looking up at her to give a halfhearted glare.

"I have more energy than you do! _I_ could actually survive this!"

"Would you two shut the _limbo_ up? Jeri, give him the dumb card!"

Takato winced heavily, glancing up to see who was on his side of the argument. MegaGargomon had turned from Gallantmon and was glaring at them, apparently peeved. MegaGargomon turned back to the fight with an angry snort, blasting Gallantmon momentarily. Takato looked up at Jeri, who glared at him just as evenly. "P-please, Jeri. Just one more. Please, just let me get Gallantmon back." He pleaded desperately.

Jeri's glare wavered for a second, and then she shook her head. "Absolutely not…" Takato's heartbroken look nearly changed her mind. "That is to say, let _me_…" Takato gave a longing look toward the fight, sighing. "Fine. Fine!" she held the card out to him, and he took it gingerly. "Just don't… don't die on me. We just got you back." She requested.

Takato set the card to slash, nodding firmly. "I won't. I promise." He slid it through the D-Power, calling, "Digi-modify! Role Reverse, activate!"

Though it took a few seconds longer than the others for Gallantmon to come around, the black eyes slowly leaked back to gold once more, and he blinked, not entirely sure of what had happened. He looked around, perhaps to find a bit of information on what had just transpired and why he was fighting his teammates. His eyes found their way to where he had last seen Takato, just in time to see Takato fall lightly to the side, much to his and Jeri's horror.

"Takato!"

"_Takatomon_!"


	19. Chapter 19

REWRITE

A/N: Okay, am I good or what? :D It may not be on an update day but I DON'T CARE! I feel epic, updating within 3 days...

Anyway, what I wanted to say was this. We're seroiusly nearing the end of this story. I mean, Takato's going home. What's next? Mie and Takehiro finding him? Kazu and Kenta apologizing? Tai and Matt finding Agumon and Gabumon and the three boys going home? Yggdrasil being destroyed? Takato waking up and going home? A cute little mother/son scene that I do plan on putting in? Its hard to believe how far this has come along. What happened to the little story with the thousand-and-some flashbacks and the short, poorly written chapters? Where did those days go? This is going to be the hardest for me to stop. It's going to be weird, not writing this anymore. But oh well, life goes on.

Another thing. This is one of my favorite chapters. For one line. Which mentions Tai and Takato. Anyway, it's after Omnimon gets attacked and Gallantmon is wanting to go to him so Tai and Matt offer help and it's all too sweet...

TAKATO IS, WAS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE TAI'S SON.

Anyway.

And lastly, I'm sorry, but next chapter will NOT consist of the group returning home. Nope, we're stationed back in Drasilya. Time for some Knights to kick ass! :D

Okay, I'm done ranting. Please enjoy this chapter, I'm quite proud of it.

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><p>Gallantmon touched down gracefully just feet from his Tamer, falling clumsily to his knees beside the unconscious boy. Aegis swiftly transformed from his shield to his left hand. He touched his Tamer's chest briefly, and then placed it firmly, feeling for a heartbeat. His eyes closed and he sighed in relief when he felt it beating softly, dangerously fast. Gram became his right hand once more and he reached back, ripping his cape from his back once more. It fluttered and then settled, allowing Gallantmon to manipulate it however he so chose. Gallantmon lifted his little Tamer with one hand and slid the cape beneath him, firmly wrapping it around his body, to try to staunch all of the bleeding.<p>

Above, Omnimon and MegaGargomon faced off. MegaGargomon was above Takato and Gallantmon, while Omnimon hovered several yards away from them. MegaGargomon dared him to come closer silently, spreading his arms as if to say "come at me!"

Omnimon's deep blue eyes glanced down at Gallantmon and Takato's little reunion, watched as Gallantmon held the boy closer to him, wrapping his arms around him completely. Then he looked up at MegaGargomon again and shook his head.

Immediately, MegaGargomon's defenses dropped, not sure what it was that Omnimon was trying to do. Sakuyamon—who had been standing in front of the two vulnerable partners—leapt up to offer help. Then she descended back to her original position, brandishing her Kongou Shakujou like a blade. She watched Justimon and Flamedramon fight off whoever they could.

Gallantmon searched around him, for anything that could help, finally deciding to just bring his Tamer even closer to him, offering his body heat in exchange for the boy's life. He stood, cradling the broken boy.

Yggdrasil watched the chaos amass, slowly expanding to a little over the size of an exercise ball. He was pissed still, pissed that, as more digimon turned to his _bait_, he slowly fell to the losing side of the battle. "Get that bastard!" he screamed, his words dripping with ire. "He's disobeying me! Treason, _treason_!"

The Royal Knights attacked at once, headed straight for Gallantmon and Takato. Omnimon spun to meet them, and he, MegaGargomon, and Sakuyamon attacked them full force.

Sakuyamon's Kongou Shakujou met Examon's Ambrosius with an angry force, trying to push each other back. Sakuyamon's need to stand her ground was far more than Examon's need to push on, though, so she slowly pushed him backward, inch by Sovereign-giving inch. She refused to let Examon near Takato.

Omnimon was holding his ground well, fighting off both Craniamon and Leopardmon. He flew back from them, almost back to the wall, and then came at them full force, both hands extended, almost looking like Superman.

Tai's brilliant brown eyes widened as he watched the powerful digimon attack. He barely noticed Matt's astounded gasp. As they watched, Omnimon transformed, splitting down into WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. WarGreymon roared and blasted at Craniamon with his Terra Force. MetalGarurumon hit Leopardmon with his Metal Wolf Claw and gave an almighty, victorious howl.

Tai quickly shook his head to regain his senses, not entirely sure of what had just happened. He opened his eyes and looked at the place where the two Megas had just attacked, finding Omnimon looming over them, both hands pointed to them. '…Why did I see that? What does it mean?' He glanced towards Matt, and then to Gallantmon.

Examon broke off his struggle with Sakuyamon and whipped his tail around in frustration. By either coincidence or some brilliant plan, the giant appendage smashed into Omnimon's stomach.

Omnimon gave a strong grunt, now unable to breathe. He rode the appendage until it stretched as far as it could go, sending him directly into the wall and actually breaking it. Sunlight streamed in, arousing a flinch from many participators of this battle.

"Omnimon!" Gallantmon called in shock from his position. He made to go to him, but didn't want to move Takato, for fear that doing so could upset his wounds even more.

"Gallantmon!"

Gallantmon looked away from Omnimon, finding Matt and Tai running to him. Tai dropped to his knees almost obediently. "We can watch him, go find your friend." He said, holding his hands out for Takato. Gallantmon seemed unsure, swallowing and looking down at his Tamer. He only agreed to let them watch Takato when Davis and Flamedramon touched down and offered to protect him as well. "Thanks guys. I won't be long."

"Take your time. You need to get Omnimon back into the battle!" Matt said, dropping into a crouch beside Tai, who cradled Takato carefully.

Gallantmon nodded, thanked them again, and went into broad daylight to find Omnimon attempting to recover. "Omnimon! Are you alright?"

Omnimon looked up at him and shook his head. "I'm fine, Gallantmon, go protect your boy."

Gallantmon chuckled at the feeble attempt at chivalry and shook his head. "He's in good hands." At Omnimon's confused, semi-astounded look, he pointed back with his thumb, "Magnamon. Er, Flamedramon, and the three boys. I trust them. Besides, the Tamers can protect him as well."

Omnimon nodded in agreement. "Yes, Flamedramon should be able to protect him."

"Omnimon," Gallantmon looked his leader up and down, "you have been released?"

"From what?" Omnimon asked, taking Gallantmon's hand as it was offered. He forced himself to balance precariously. "I don't understand what you mean."

"From Yggdrasil. The Power Struggle. You were fighting me, weren't you?" Gallantmon's golden eyes danced as he watched Omnimon.

"Oh." At first Omnimon shrugged. Then he paused and smiled a little. "Well, after I saw that, even without knowing the both of you, it would be hard to not get a little heart back."

Gallantmon ducked his head in embarrassment, rubbing his neck. He shook his head and quickly recovered. "Omnimon, can you still fight? That looked like a solid hit."

"It was. But I think I'll be fine. Just help me get in, my friend, and I can rejoin you."

Gallantmon nodded, his eyes happy. He wrapped one arm around Omnimon's shoulders and led him in.

It was different to see the battlegrounds in the light rather than the dark. There were scraps of old, broken off armor and weapons, part of the building had even fallen, Takato's blood was still dribbled in places. It was truly a warzone.

Once Omnimon said he was well, Gallantmon went to the boys and took Takato from Tai gratefully. He thanked them once more and crouched, shifting a little so that Aegis could pop out at any time.

Flamedramon stared at the two, only moving to fully rejoin the fight when he was assured that Omnimon certainly was on their side.

Jeri stared on at the three boys who had so kindly helped her friend. She smiled a little and forced herself to her feet. She frowned as, once again, something came streaking toward her friend. A gray being, faster than fast. "G-GALLANTMON, OMNIMON! WATCH OUT!" she screamed.

Omnimon turned forward to see Dynasmon approaching. His bat-like wings were beating furiously, his fists extended. The powerful gray digimon wasn't attacking Omnimon, his eyes were set on Gallantmon and the little boy in his arms.

_Chk_

Omnimon's Grey Sword thrust in front of the two, effectively cutting off Dynasmon's attack.

Dynasmon pulled himself to a stop just a yard before he would have smashed into the sword. His breathing condensed on the sword as he stared at the shiny metal surface, staring at himself. He took a few seconds to register what was going on, and shook his head. He leapt backwards from the Chrome digizoid blade, hovering above the dusty ground. His wings were hardly moving; just enough to keep him above the ground. "Omnimon! What in the Sovereign's names are you doing?" he hissed angrily.

The Grey Sword swept toward Dynasmon, pushing him back a few feet. Omnimon stepped in front of his friend, offering his entire body to protect Tamer and partner. "Dynasmon!"

Dynasmon instinctively snapped into a salute, glaring at his leader. His wings stopped beating and he dropped to the ground. There was nothing that he could do; he had to listen. First and foremost, Omnimon was his leader.

Omnimon clenched his fists, relieved that the Knight most loyal to the King was listening to him. He cleared his throat, gave Gallantmon an anxious look, and cried, "Royal Knights!" He was given strength by the grateful look that Gallantmon gave him.

As if they had been on his side all along, the six remaining Knights on Yggdrasil's side turned to look at him, all snapping into a salute. Around them, fighting stopped. Everyone was curious what Omnimon had to say. Even Flamedramon peered up at him, his hand at his brow. The four Tamed digimon held their ground nervously, weapons at the ready.

Omnimon stepped away from Gallantmon, pointing his MetalGarurumon head at Gallantmon and Takato. Gallantmon lifted his chin and Takato a little higher, proud to show off that he hadn't been a fool at all—he really did have a partner and everything.

"My Knights! Feast your eyes upon these two! Feel Gallantmon's fear and woe and believe what I'm about to tell you! Agree that wounds like those that the boy has don't just sprout up from nowhere, or from just being tossed to the floor. Agree with me, my Knights!" Omnimon said loudly. He shifted a little to point the Grey Sword at his former leader. King Drasil expanded and condensed in one solid motion, curious to see where Omnimon was taking this, exactly.

Omnimon cleared his voice once he was certain that the Knights had seen and had been disgusted by Takato's wounds. "Now look at _that_. You saw that boy, yes? Now meet the King who took him from his home and kept him here—injured, frightened, and alone—for two years! Meet the King who used that boy against myself and Gallantmon! Meet the King who would have each and every one of your lives just to get his way! Now, answer me this, what kind of king is that?"

All was silent for half a minute. Yggdrasil almost laughed at the amount of support that he had, that Omnimon didn't have. Almost.

Omnimon shifted and gulped. He continued, "He took a boy who had no defense, who couldn't protect himself. He hurt him in his own world and brought him here, didn't take care of him, just left him to die. This boy—_Gallantmon's_ boy—is lucky that he has survived this long. If he's here any longer, he'll die. And it will all be the fault of that so-called King!"

Kentaurosmon whinnied anxiously. His ears dipped and he took a few steps back.

"What kind of Knights would we be, if we don't protect the weak? It's in our hall, our code of chivalry, 'Protect the weak and powerless, Defend those who cannot defend themselves'. Is that not what this boy is? Is he not weak, and defenseless? And we'd attack the ones who came to do what we as knights have failed to do for two years?" Omnimon finished, peering around.

Yggdrasil had heard quite enough at this point. He had shrunk to half his previous size, filled to the brim and overflowing with rage. "_Treason_! My Knights, attack! Attack that scoundrel!" he commanded.

No digimon moved. The Knights were frozen, watching Omnimon and Gallantmon and their King, staring at them all, seeing them in a new light. Dynasmon's wings fell limp, touching the ground and coating it around him like a cape. He stared at the boy, who only minutes ago; any of them would have laughed about, claiming that he didn't exist. Leopardmon's sword dropped, regretting ever having spoken those mean words to Gallantmon, for ever chastising him for believing in his boy. Examon's tail drooped and Ambrosius hung limp, also knowing that he'd done wrong.

King Drasil expanded with a burst of energy. He went and took up a WaruMonzaemon, proclaiming, "Fine! Attack, my army!" He started toward Omnimon—to whom he had a clear path—screaming "Bear Claw!"

Omnimon covered his head—he couldn't move away, couldn't attack in reply.

"_ROYAL SHIELD!"_

A few seconds later, Omnimon lifted his head to see that the WaruMonzaemon had faceplanted into… something. Behind the thing in front of WaruMonzaemon, Leopardmon, UlforceVeedramon, and Craniamon stood, their arms each making a line that swooped up and to the left each. Craniamon stood in the middle, providing the frame for the special attack, while UlforceVeedramon stood on his right, casting some substance, and Leaopardmon on his left, doing the same.

Omnimon grinned in relief. The Royal Shield was a very special attack indeed. It was a defensive maneuver to be used by no less than three Knights. All ten of them could use it at once, creating its most pure, most strong, most widespread form. Besides the fact that they were Royal Knights, it was the only thing that truly bound the Knights together. It required extreme faith in your partners' ability—truly an attack for the supportive Knights.

The best attribute to this special attack was that it was truly the single most durable substance in the entire Digital World. The Grey Sword would have shattered upon contact. If someone stood behind it, they would be safe from anything. Nothing that the Knights had tried would break its powerful barrier.

Which apparently included WaruMonzaemon.

King Drasil stepped backwards a little dizzily. As soon as he did, the three Knights dropped the shield. The air—the very substance that the Shield was made of, condensed air—around them returned once again to invisibility.

The WaruMonzaemon regained its composure and spat, "Treason! Treason!"

"What are you guys doing?" Omnimon hissed to the Knights before him.

UlforceVeedramon turned back to him obediently. His cheeks held a much focused, very radiant smile. "Omnimon, you're our leader. Before it goes to anyone else, our loyalty goes to _you_. It has never gone to kidnappers or coward. Well, not knowingly, it hasn't." He nodded at Gallantmon, who returned the nod with a bright grin.

Omnimon felt his heart swell. He straightened as Kentaurosmon bucked and whinnied. He stamped the ground with his hooves angrily. "Yes, yes! And what a coward that this _king_ must be, stealing away a little human. And better yet, using it against a Knight. Pish posh." He said, tossing his head to the side, his purple mane hitting his neck with each whip.

Around the room, the Knights' argument went from one force to the other. All stood, facing Yggdrasil, prepared to attack the coward. They were Knights, after all. What Knight wouldn't protect the weak?

Yggdrasil glanced around him, searching for the loyalty that had been his only seconds ago. "No! I will not be made a fool of! Gallantmon, Omnimon, my Knights, if I cannot have you for my own, _no one_ can!"

A line of Megas from his army stepped forward and prepared their attacks. Then they started blasting, determined to take down the traitorous Knights.

Immediately, the Knights split into groups of three and four. Flamedramon went to Gallantmon and Omnimon's side, noting to himself that most of the attacks were aimed at the three of them. Most likely, Yggdrasil's goal wasn't just to kill the three Knights, but to also make all of this treasonous behavior futile. He was aiming for Takato, as well. He thrust his arms into the faimilar position beside Omnimon; his left into the air and his right to the ground.

Omnimon didn't have to think about what he was doing; he'd done it so many times. Just as Craniamon had done, he was providing the frame for the shield. The air between the two of them started hardening, but it had nowhere to go, leaving the attacks to potentially blast right through their shield and kill all four of them.

"Royal Shield!"

Omnimon hardly had the time to glance to the right before the attacks were upon them. However, he was able to see that Gallantmon had Takato propped against his knee and had gone through the motions as well. The air hardened considerably, and the attacks bounced right off of their shield without harming it or any of them.

After a while, the attacks wore off as the attackers grew tired. Omnimon dropped the shield at the same time as Flamedramon. Gallantmon, a little more cautious, kept the position for a few seconds, and then put his arms back around his unconscious Tamer. The other Knights dropped their shields as well, one at a time.

Omnimon looked back at the kids, who were fascinated and horrified. He glanced towards Gallatnmon and spoke, "Gallantmon, you need to get your boy home."

"I can't leave you! You can't fight these guys by yourself!" Gallantmon said, though he was already standing to leave.

Omnimon shook his head. "Gallantmon, I'm not alone. A Knight is never alone." He said, diorecting to the others. He turned to Flamedramon and commanded, "Go, join up with Leopardmon's group."

Flamedramon saluted and took off towards the Knights, glancing back to check that Davis and the other two would be alright.

"Are you—"

"Absolutely. Gallantmon, you need to get him to a healer. He's in great danger of dying. If you wait to fight with me, you may lose him."

"I won't."

"If you don't go now, you will. Don't worry, I can fight here." Omnimon assured.

Gallantmon paused and glanced down at Takato. Then he nodded. He looked to the humans and their partners, who were watching him anxiously. "We're leaving now! Are you ready?"

The partners swooped down to lift their Tamers into the air. They nodded firmly and started heading to the area that Omnimon had been blasted out of.

Gallantmon looked at the three boys, above whom Grani hovered. "Let's go." He said.

Tai shook his head and looked between Davis and Matt. "We… are staying. I feel like Agumon and Gabumon are here. Maybe because you found your kid here and Davis got Veemon back, but… I won't leave Agumon here. Besides, our world is completely different from yours. 'Going back' would bring us even farther away from home." He said.

Gallantmon bit his lip, but nodded. "If you're sure that you'll be safe." he agreed.

"Not… entirely. But I have a feeling that your friends won't let their King be any more of a coward and evildoer than he already is." Matt looked toward Yggdrasil.

"Go, Gallantmon. If you'd like, I'll watch them."

Gallantmon chuckled. "You're putting a lot on your shoulders, Omnimon."

"As if you didn't. Go _now_, Gallantmon. I promise, I will keep them safe and destroy Yggdrasil." Omnimon frowned, disappointed that they weren't already gone.

Justimon, Sakuyamon, Leomon, and MegaGargomon were waiting impatiently, clutching their Tamers tightly. Gallantmon saw this, saw that they wanted to go now. That they needed to go now. "I'm coming." He assured them. He looked back at Omnimon. "Alphamon would have been proud."

Omnimon's bright blue eyes widened. He blushed and shoved them away in embarrassment. "Go!"

Gallantmon grinned at his friend, made sure that Takato was situated, and dashed toward the others, entrusting the other Knights with the destruction of his Tamer's tormentor. He caught up with the others and went ahead, leading them away from the misleading city with its bright lights and evil undertone.

They ran quickly and carefully, very carefully indeed. One trip could surely send Takato to his death. Grani soon caught up with them and paced himself beside Gallantmon, ready to support his friend when it was necessary.

MegaGargomon—trailing behind the group to provide protection—glanced backwards. His blue eyes widened when he saw one of Yggdrasil's minions fly out and follow them. "Guys!" He clutched Henry tighter on his shoulder and lifted one hand, blasting the Eaglemon with a Mega Barrage. He missed, hitting the ground behind the golden Mega.

Grani spun around and let the others pass him, until he was several yards ahead of the digimon. He opened his mouth and a tri-colored ball of light started forming. "YUGGOTH BLASTER!"

The beam rocketed from his mouth, striking the Eaglemon in the chest. It screeched in pain and disintegrated. Grani swept around and snatched up its data before going to catch up with Gallantmon.

Gallantmon watched him. "I didn't know you could do that!" He said, astounded.

"It's supposed to be a shared attack, but I can use it alone when I'm in danger. You probably could too, but you've got your Lightning Joust and Shield of the Just to rely on, no?" Grani explained.

Gallantmon nodded, never even having known that they had a joint attack. It didn't surprise him, though. After all, it was because of he and Takato that Grani was even considered a real digimon in the first place. He suddenly felt much better about returning to the Real World, with Grani at his side.

"Wait a second, you guys… there might be a problem!" Henry cried from the back.

"_What_ problem?" Gallantmon called back.

"How can we get back to the Real World? Last time we used the Ark, but we don't _have_ the Ark… right? I mean, how can we use it?" Henry continued.

Gallantmon didn't miss a beat. "Remember who the Ark was, Henry?"

Grani grinned to himself. "You need not worry, Henry! I can create a portal to the Real World and bring you home, just like I did last time!"

Gallantmon quickly agreed, peering ahead. "Up there, Grani, can you make one? It should be far enough away from Drasilya!"

Grani focused on the point that Gallantmon pointed out, a large boulder upon which would be the perfect place to rest a portal. He squeezed his eyes shut, expending massive amounts of energy, and soon enough, the twinkle of a portal glittered and expanded to a size easy enough for their largest warrior—MegaGargomon—to jump through.

Gallantmon stopped at the edge and ushered the others through. He turned back to his previous home, suddenly feeling nostalgic, golden eyes watching the peaceful looking city. Then he looked back down at his weak little Tamer and shook his head, turning to the portal. He stepped through it, to finally return Takato to his real home.

'I just hope that they'll be alright…'


	20. Chapter 20

REWRITE

Matt watched on as the powerful leader, Omnimon, stepped up a little to Gallantmon's right and spoke to him softly, "Go, Gallantmon. If you'd like, I'll watch them."

As if they needed watching. What a ridiculous notion.

But then again, they did. At least, he and Tai did. Flamedramon could protect Davis, but all three of them? That would be asking too much of the ex-Knight.

"You're putting a lot on your shoulders, Omnimon." Gallantmon commented with an amused chuckle. He raised an eyebrow, clutching at that boy in his arms. The poor kid was unconscious—not that he hadn't been when Tai had held him so that Gallantmon could get at Omnimon.

Omnimon gave a narrow-eyed look in reply. "As if you didn't. Go _now_, Gallantmon. I promise, I will keep them safe and destroy Yggdrasil." He frowned beneath his mask, infinitely unhappy that Gallantmon and the others weren't gone yet.

Gallantmon nodded at him, and glanced backwards, toward the partners of the others. "I'm coming." He said loudly, so that they most certainly knew. He looked back at Omnimon and said warmly, "Alphamon would have been proud."

Neither Tai, Matt, nor Davis knew who Alphamon was, but whoever it was, he must have been important. Omnimon's eyes widened and he snapped at them in embarrassment, "Go!" he shoved them away.

Gallantmon grinned in reply, apparently having made his mark on his leader. He looked down at the broken boy in his arms, turned around to the others, and left.

Omnimon watched them leave with a heavy heart. He looked down at the boys. "Well, now that we've swapped charges, what do I do with you?" he muttered to himself. He looked up at the glowing ball of evil, and shook his head. "There's not much I _can_ do." He said with a sigh. "Just stay back against the wall, stay out of the way. I'll keep you safe. Get my attention if you're in trouble. Now, I must go. Promise to a friend. You wouldn't understand." He turned around and blasted into the battle without so much as a goodbye.

"Cold guy." Matt commented, brushing his bangs to the side.

"Not to Gallantmon. They must have been great friends." Tai replied, his tone light.

Matt smiled over at him. "Not like you and me."

"Never. I wonder what he meant by 'You wouldn't understand'. As if we don't make promises." Tai glanced up at the powerful Super Ultimate with a scoff, crossing his arms solidly, looking slightly offended.

Matt shrugged. "We should probably do what he says, either way. Come on." He pressed backwards against the wall and watched in morbid fascination as the battle raged on, Omnimon fighting with Kentaurosmon, Dynasmon, Examon, and Crusadermon.

Tai leaned against the wall beside him, anxious.

It took almost a full hour before more and more digimon stopped streaming into the Throne Room, and the army was destroyed. Finally, the only standing digimon was WaruMonzaemon, its eyes glowing silver because it was harboring the evil spirit of Yggdrasil.

WaruMonzaemon tripped backwards, its eyes wide. It shook its head, threw Yggdrasil right out of its body, and dashed for the hills, before Dynasmon caught up with it and promptly "Dragon's Roar!"ed it into deletion.

Dynasmon came flying back proudly, his wings pumping, and landed beside Flamedramon, who looked up at him and nodded. It had been the right thing to do, so Yggdrasil's presence could be completely gone from the world with one last blow.

Behind them, Tai, Matt, and Davis (Davis especially) were gawking at Dynasmon. They didn't understand this need to kill WaruMonzaemon. It had turned tail and run; they could have let it go!

Not that any of them expected the _humans_ to understand.

"Yggdrasil, you have been in power for quite long enough. It's time for the Digital World's power to go where it belongs… the digimon." Omnimon looked sideways at his companions and nodded. All nodded in reply, and glared at the glowing ball. Each lifted their hands.

"Royal Rupture!" Omnimon lifted his hands powerfully. In front of him, a white ball of light—much purer than Yggdrasil's _blue_ form—formed. It started as little more than a speck, and grew to the size of a beach ball. The other Knights looked at this ball and cried, "Royal Rupture!" They sent a beam of light into this ball of light until the ball was about the size of a water tower.

The Royal Shield was the Knights' defense, while the Royal Rupture—a powerful move that unfortunately expended a lot of energy and, if it backfired, could kill one of the lesser Knights—was their offense. Much like the Shield, it only worked when three or more Knights were there to make it work. One—being Omnimon this time—gave it its frame and the original burst of power required, while the others provided the meat of it, giving it its power.

Once the ball was concentrated, all hands pointed toward Yggdrasil, eyes dark. "Royal Explosion!"

The ball burst, and the energy slowly poured out of one point facing Yggdrasil. It all struck Yggdrasil, and his ball glowed yellow, white, and then went out.

The Rupture leaked out until it was the size of a beach ball, at which point Omnimon sucked it back in. This was one of the most dangerous stages, but he'd had practice, he knew what he was doing.

Flamedramon went back to Davis and the boys, raising his chin proudly. He stood by, just in case Yggdrasil wasn't yet done. If he used that attack, this time, they were all dead. Especially the boys. The _Power Struggle_.

Omnimon watched the place that Yggdrasil had been. He stepped forward, feeling his chest burning. "Come out, coward! Face your fate! You chose this path, now you'll have to stick to it. Face _my_ Knights, tell us how you have deceived them; deceived us. Show us your lies!" he commanded.

A tiny, feeble looking ball of blue wavered out, and then appeared out on the pedestal. "What lies? I've done no such thing." Yggdrasil said, his voice confident though he appeared far less than so.

Omnimon frowned and shook his head. "Coward, liar! Fess up to these, you lying, cheating bastard!" he raised his right arm above his head and barked, "Supreme Cannon!"

Though he used that attack, it appeared that the Sovereigns did not want for him to defeat Yggdrasil. The attack exploded in his face as soon as it left the MetalGarurumon hand and he shot backward, creating an even bigger hole in the wall than before. He created a dust cloud as he hit the ground, one that simply refused to settle.

"Omnimon!" the other Knights cried for their injured leader. Craniamon glared up at Yggdrasil. "What did you do? Isn't it bad enough what you've already done?" he demanded.

"It isn't _my fault_ that weakling can't handle that much power. Surely not." Yggdrasil scoffed, though he sounded pleased with the outcome.

The Knights watched the hole for a few seconds, and then turned to Yggdrasil with a glare. Craniamon—being the most perceptive of the bunch—snapped at them, "aim for the pedestal, that's where his power comes from! Shock Ringer!"

"Scarlet Tempest!"

"Dragon's Roar!"

"Pendragon's Glory!"

"Inferno Frost!"

"Black Aura Blast!"

"Ray of Victory!"

"Flame Fist!"

The pedestal itself couldn't handle the attacks. It crumbled beneath the pressure, and with a wisp, the Knights knew that the evil Yggdrasil was no more. They were all safe. And better yet, that boy that Gallantmon and Omnimon and those children had worked so hard to defend would never have to worry about him again.

Flamedramon was the first to go out to his leader, though he was quickly followed by the others. He scooped Davis into his arms and set him down outside Drasilya's wall. "I'll check on him," he told his superiors.

The other Knights could only nod, waiting for the dust to settle to see if their leader was in fact deleted, or if he'd be alright.

Flamedramon hopped over to the dust cloud, settling just outside. "Omnimon?" he called nervously. No reply came, so he stepped cautiously into the dust cloud.

He stiffened when a scent drifted into his nose. No, that wasn't right though. It wasn't _one_ scent. It was two! Sure, it still smelled like Omnimon, but it was as if Omnimon's scent had split into two different scents. As if Omnimon had split into two separate beings.

Flamedramon quickly hopped out of the dust cloud and settled in front of Davis, Tai, and Matt. He was on edge. Something was wrong with his leader.

"What is it, Flamedramon?" asked Crusadermon, her voice prickly and anxious. "What has upset you so greatly?"

"That… I don't know. Something is wrong with Omnimon. He smells the same, but… different." Flamedramon reported, dropping into a crouch.

"Man, my head hurts. Did anyone get the license plate for that truck?"

"Very funny. Where are you? I can't even see in this thing."

"Maybe my fire will help. Help me stand, please? Here, I'm right over here. Take my claw. Kay… Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

A spurt of blue flame, and a spurt of orange flame proceeded the words coming from the cloud.

"Pepper Breath?" Tai asked, unable to ignore the fact that his partner's attack had been said and used. It was interesting that Matt's partner's attack had been used as well. He wondered faintly who was playing a trick on them.

"Blue… Blaster… Tai! That's Agumon and Gabumon in there!"

"Tai? Tai!" a familiar, warm voice cried. Soon, a figure was dashing from the cloud, and it was followed closely by another, shorter one.

When the dust settled, the Knights would have realized that Omnimon was missing, had they been paying attention. Rather, they were watching as Tai and his little orange lizard wrapped themselves in a hug, and Matt and his dog collided and embraced. In the meantime, Flamedramon dedigivolved to Veemon, and Davis just held him.

"You were Omnimon… you were _Omnimon_! You know, Matt, I guess we should have seen that coming." Tai commented, clutching Agumon to him. Agumon was nodding against him.

"I guess so. But you were so strong! And you lead so well! Gabumon, I wish I'd known sooner…" Matt breathed into his digimon's fur.

"I wish that I'd known, or recognized you sooner. That would have made this whole thing a lot easier. You know, now that I think about it, it's a good thing that Supreme Cannon didn't work." Gabumon sounded amused as he said those words, cuddling against Matt.

Both boys nodded firmly, happy to have their partners back.

Finally, Dynasmon stepped up and coughed. With Omnimon dedigivolved and Gallantmon in the real world with his boy, there would be no one to lead. He was third in line, and he was a good leader on missions. He would take the roll. "Well, boys. Gallantmon, his boy, and his friends have gone, and I think it's time that you were going as well. The real world and your friends need you more than we do here. Thank you, Agumon, Gabumon, and Veemon, for all that you've done, but we can take it from here." He looked backwards at his Knights. "I think that the Royal Knights can be the cleanup crew. The Throne Room will be torn down and probably burnt, to remove all traces of Yggdrasil's horror. Perhaps we can salvage the area into something useful."

Agumon nodded at him, rising as Tai stood. "It's a good idea, Dynasmon, and one that I would completely sign off for you to do, were I still Omnimon." He said in agreement.

Gabumon nodded. Matt held him as he stood and looked toward the general area that Gallantmon and his friends had went to.

Craniamon nodded at the three humans. "I think that you will need to get back, and I have just the fix. As thanks for helping us destroy what was apparently the worst thing that could happen to Drasilya, I will create my own portal to send you to the real world. You need not thank me, for I have discovered how to do this. Agumon, Gabumon, Veemon, should you ever have the want to visit, give me a holler." He pointed toward a rock, spoke a few words, and a TV appeared there. It started fizzing. "That should help you get home." He said.

Davis nodded. The three boys approached it, and Davis tapped on the screen. It was solid. Even pressing the D3 to the TV would not open the portal.

"You must be much weaker than you thought, Craniamon. It won't open." Veemon said, looking amused at his friend.

Craniamon had the decency to blush. "S-sorry, that's all I can do at the moment. I don't want to end up as that boy and use my energy. We'll get started with the renovations as soon as we can."

Tai shook his head. He set Agumon on the ground and dug into his pocket to find his D-Terminal. "It's alright. I can just email Kari and let her know that we need the gate open. She asked me to do that, anyway." He said. He started sending an email to his little sister, who would surely be eager to hear from him.

Dynasmon continued talking to the others as he typed. "The city will probably be renamed, though it's doubtful that it'll go by the new name for a while. Drasilya has always been Drasilya. But this time, we won't allow discrimination. All will be allowed within its gates. All will be given protection from the outside world." He said, determination sparking in his bright red eyes.

Veemon nodded, knowing that such would happen.

Within minutes, a reply came from Kari, half demanding why he hadn't messaged sooner, a quarter telling him that the gate was open, and a quarter asking what had happened. Tai left it without answering, and turned to his friends. "Are we ready to go? I am." He said.

All nodded. He pulled out his digivice, scooped up Agumon, and watched as the other two did the same, holding their digivices up to the TV. The TV glowed, and it sucked each of them back into the real world, where they belonged.

It took Tai an extra long minute to realize just what being back here and with Koromon in his arms meant. He hit the tile floor and his knees and clutched Koromon to him, not wanting to let go. Soon, Kari was by him, and had her arms around him, saying how happy she was for him. But he didn't hear her. He could only hear Koromon's soft voice pleading with him, "Tai, it's okay, you're home and I'm home and we're all home and we won't ever have to worry about that mean old king ever again!"

Around the room, the other two were receiving much the same chorus from their digimon. The digimon were getting similar replies from their partners.

Anxious looks of deep, deep disbelief.


	21. Chapter 21

REWRITE

Takehiro set his hand on the counter, scrubbing it fiercely, his forehead perspiring after spending all that day by the oven. Mie was sitting down at the kitchen table, part of the reason that he was being worked so hard.

"Why are they taking so long? They should be home by now. It's been over a day!"

Takehiro's hand slipped and he practically face-planted into the counter. His other arm caught him just in time, and he turned to look at her.

Mie had her hands between her thighs, staring at the floor, brilliant brown eyes dead to the world. She looked so broken, so afraid. As if she knew that surely this mission would fail.

"I don't know Mie. I'm sure they'll be home soon. Don't worry about it." He didn't want her to hear what he was thinking: 'they aren't your kids to worry about, anyway'.

Mie puffed anxiously and forced herself to stand. "Okay. I guess. Do you want help?" she asked.

Takehiro shook her head, a soft smile on his cheeks. "Not at all, honey. Why don't you go lay down? I'll get you when Jeri calls to tell how it went."

Mie nodded and stepped toward the stairs. "Good night, Hiro."

* * *

><p>Yamaki sat on a park bench, waiting beside the hut. He'd been there all night, holding his palm pilot. And he was beat.<p>

He winced, surprised, when an email finally popped up on the screen. He looked down at it.

'_Mr. Yamaki,_

_We're coming through the portal now! We have Takato, but he's hurt really badly. We have to bring him to the hospital! We are five seconds from contact with the Real World!'_

Yamaki braced himself for the explosion of children from the hut, but somehow didn't expect it still. Five kids and five little digimon came out of the building, collapsing on the earth, dispersed thinly.

Gigimon was the first to awake, his ears twitching. As soon as he came to, he leapt to his feet, crying, "TAKATOMON!" he nosed his way to the young brunette and cuddled against his chest. He looked up at Yamaki, seeing him for the first time. "Mr. Yamakimon! You have to help him or he's gonna die!" he gasped.

Yamaki stared for a few seconds before coming back to his senses. He scrambled over to the injured teen and turned him over, rubbing his chest. "What's he wrapped in?"

"Gallantmon's cape. I'll have to digivolve later to get it back." Gigimon explained, shaking nervously.

"Don't be scared." Yamaki's eyes softened. "He'll be just fine." he assured. "Why don't you go wake everyone else so we can get him to a hospital? I'll protect him."

Gigimon's ears flicked, looking at Takato, not sure if he should trust Yamaki to keep him safe. But, as with the boys before, he finally gave up and went to get his friends.

The others awoke slowly, Rika the quickest with taking a minute to come completely to, and Hopmon the longest with almost three. But they all awoke and all were able to get going, Yamaki cradling Takato as if he'd break.

Yamaki drove them all to the hospital, Ryo sitting in the front and Takato resting in Jeri and Rika's laps. Henry sat on the floor in front of him, watching his chest to make sure that he didn't stop breathing.

Takato was immediately brought to the E.R., and his wound was cleaned and stitched up, a procedure that was torture for the other kids to wait to finish. Gigimon had escaped into the room to hide beneath the table, doing whatever he could to keep his Tamer safe.

It took nearly 2 hours before the surgeon came out to tell Yamaki what had happened and what would happen. In the meantime, the kids followed a nurse up to Takato's room, just to see him.

Takato was sleeping-would be for several hours or even days-his abdomen wrapped in gauze. An IV was sticking into his arm, dropping his medicine into his bloodstream. He even had an oxygen mask on, condensing the inside with every little breath.

In the crook of his arm, Gigimon was curling. His ears were down and his nose was pressed into Takato's armpit. The tip of his tail was twitching, the calmest way that he could wag his tail. He was purring.

Jeri approached Takato first, looking him over. "Well... He looks better than before." she commented, furrowing her eyebrows anxiously.

"As if he could look worse." Ryo said spitefully.

Jeri glared at him and dropped into a chair at Takato's side. "Sadly enough, it's true." she sighed.

Rika dropped her hand on Jeri's shoulder softly, supporting her silently.

Jeri smiled back at her. "Hey... Who wants to call the Matsukis?"

* * *

><p>"Hello, Matsuki Bakery. I'm sorry, we're closed now, but call back tomorrow between 8 and 7 and I'll make your baked goods as quickly as I can." Takehiro yawned aloud, covering his mouth. He was sweeping up the shop for the night, rubbing his eyes.<p>

"Hi, Mr. Matsuki, it's me, Rika. Um... Yeah. I don't know how to say this. How quickly can you and Mrs. Matsuki get down to the hospital?" the caller asked.

Takehiro paused, and then continued his work. "Well hello Rika. What do Mie and I need to go down there for?" he asked kindly.

"Something very important. Yamaki and Henry and Jeri and Ryo and I are all waiting for you."

"Why?"

"...Jeri wants me to keep it a secret. I know, not very nice, but that's what she wants."

"..." Takehiro hummed and shook his head. "When?"

"As soon as you can."

"...Give us a few minutes. Goodbye, Rika."

Rika hung up, and Takehiro dropped the phone back into its cradle. He shook his head again, resting one hand on the counter. "That girl will be the death of me." he decided daftly. Then he went to wake Mie, who slept in their room.

She was already awake, rubbing her eyes, watching him. "Who called?" she asked.

"Rika."

"...Wasn't she in the Digital World?" Mie asked, furrowing her thin eyebrows. Realization seemed to dawn, and then confusion set in.

"I suppose she was. Guess she was back. Anyway, she said that she wanted us to come down to the hospital. You coming?"

Mie finished scrubbing her eyes and shrugged. "Yeah, I am. Shop all closed up?"

"Mostly. Still needs a good sweeping and scrubbing, but I doubt that others will come to join us."

Mie nodded and forced herself up, taking his offered hand. She yawned and stretched, then went to the restroom to wash her face.

Takehiro was waiting in the kitchen when she was done. He stood and led her outside, and they called up a taxi and headed for the hospital.

Henry was waiting in the waiting room when they arrived, watching the ground, Gummymon bouncing on his head. Takehiro quickly grabbed his attention, heading over to him.

"Henry! What are you doing here? Family sick?" Mie asked kindly.

"No. Visiting a friend." Henry said. He politely turned to them and asked, "Why are you here?"

Gummymon giggled but apparently knew to keep his mouth shut.

"I don't know, honestly. Rika told us to come down 'as soon as you can'." Takehiro said, air quoting the phrase.

"Yeah? Thought as much. Why don't you come with me quick? The staff here said that he needs peace, but I bet they'll make an exception for you, if they know who you are." Henry stood and stretched, knocking Gummymon into the chair he'd been sitting in.

Gummymon pouted. "Dont be mean, Henry!" he said, launching to Henry's shoulder.

Henry chuckled at the in-training. "You guys coming?"

Mie looked to Takehiro, who shrugged and started to follow the young Chinese Tamer.

Mie bit her lip and followed her husband and the boy.

"Henry, who are we talking about?" Takehiro asked, following him closely.

Henry shrugged. Gummymon giggled again. "No one in particular." He grinned up at Gummymon.

Mie puffed her cheeks out and followed him with a heavy _harrumph_.

Henry pushed into a room, outside of which sat Rika and Jeri, talking excitedly. They both looked excited and happy about something, though neither parent could have guessed what, for certain.

"What are you guys doing here?" Mie asked, stopping.

"Visiting a friend," Rika replied.

"..." Mie sighed as Takehiro grabbed her arm. Jeri and Rika followed them.

One of two beds was occupied by an unrecognizable child. It was wrapped in gauze heavily and had an oxygen mask on its face. In its arm sat a little red blob, sleeping, its ears tucked back, purring happily.

It took Mie only seconds to connect the dots. She peered around, to make this child more recognizable. The blob stirred and lifted its head, looking at her. Then, "Mrs. Matsukimon!"

Mie gulped, looking at the boy (for she was certain that the child was, in fact, a boy). "Is... Is this..."

"Yes." Jeri said firmly.

Mie's first and only reaction was for her knees to buckle. She hit the floor, much to her husband's terror, unconscious.

* * *

><p>Mie awoke to a wet thing on her forehead and a weight on her lap. She was laying on something comfortable, wondering faintly what had happened. She finally forced her eyes open, only to find two brilliant golden orbs staring into her own brown ones.<p>

The golden eyes moved, their owner yipped, and danced from his position to his feet and away.

Mie sat up slowly, watching as the little thing—wasn't it called Guilmon? Or was this the Gigimon that Rika had dropped off?—leapt from her bed to another, cuddling in the armpit of whoever was on that bed.

"Mie? Are you okay? Gigimon, I think you scared her." a voice said.

"Did not! I wanted to make sure she was alright!" the other voice defended with a huff.

From the conversation, Mie decided the 2nd speaker-owner of the golden eyes-was in fact Gigimon. She shook her head sullenly. "I'm just fine, Takehiro," she said, recognizing her husband's even tones. She started trying to sit up until Takehiro pushed on her shoulders, holding her down.

"You shouldn't get up. Doctor's orders. That was quite a spill you took, honey. Are you sure you're alright?" Takehiro asked, leaning over her so she could see his own eyes watching her, anxious and afraid for her safety.

Mie dismissed him with a wave of a hand. She glanced over to see where Gigimon was snuggling his nose into the armpit of whoever he was cuddling with. "I'm fine, Takehiro, I told you!" she laughed innocently. She allowed him to raise the bed a little so she could look around. "What... happened? Why am I in the hospital?" she asked, not even remembering why they were there in the first place, though knowing they had come to the hospital for something important before her... spill.

Takehiro dropped into the seat between the two beds and smiled at her softly. "You fainted when Jeri confirmed that that's Takato."

"Fainted?" Why had she fainted? What did he mean? It took her brain a few moments to connect the name Takato and being in the hospital in the first place. Not particularly caring for her own health, she sat up to look at the other occupied bed.

Surely that boy was her son. She saw her nose in him, Takehiro's light brow. That explained why Gigimon was cuddling into his armpit, purring and giving off a happy look. "That's Takato?" she asked, her eyes wide, wanting to confirm it once more. _That_, that little boy, may very well be her son...

Takehiro nodded, trying to get her to lie back down. He frowned, knowing that telling her wouldn't help her get back down. "Yes. That's him. The doctors have told he'll probably be out for a while, but that's our son." he said solidly, pulling his hands back.

Mie swung her feet around. "Can I... touch him? Or is that 'unprecedented'? Please?" she asked, pushing herself out of bed, letting her bare toes feel the tile floor.

"I'd rather you stayed in bed... But it'll probably be good for you. But promise me that when you're done, you'll come lay down." Takehiro sighed with a smile.

"As if you haven't touched him." Mie replied, pushing herself over to her son's bedside.

Takehiro chuckled but nodded. "To be honest, I wasn't sure who I should stay by," he admitted with a blush.

Mie frowned at him, finally reaching out to run her hand across her baby's forehead, brushing his bangs back as she used to do before bedtime when he was younger. "I only fainted, Takehiro. He is the one so... so..." she wanted to continue, but didn't want the words to leave and be admitted. "I... I would have been fine. He is the one who needs us."

Tears filled her eyes as she ran her hand along the bandages covering his abdomen. What could possibly have wanted to harm her little boy-since that was all he really was at the moment, a little boy-so incredibly? He may have been strong before—stronger than she even knew he could be—as a knight with Guilmon at his side, but he'd transformed in the time he'd been gone. Gone away was that strong figure who led the Tamers with compassion like no other could, gone away was the goof-off who refused to do his homework, who spent all day in the park, who spent his nights before bed weeping over his lost partner. In his place lay a being weakened by pain, one who would surely never be that sweet little boy, who had probably locked away that sweet little boy so no one could use him against him again.

Though she'd miss that child desperately, though she'd wish for him back, that boy was most likely not her son anymore. She'd grow accustomed to-and would grow to love-this one. She had to.

Takehiro placed his hand on her back as the tears started falling, already missing the boy even if she didn't know that he was gone.

"Who did this?" Mie asked her husband, reaching to grab for Takato's thin, bedraggled hand. "I'll kill them, Takehiro. I'll murder whoever did this! I'll make them pay for taking him away!" she snarled.

Takehiro rubbed her back. "You'll have to get in line; Gigimon and I have already claimed that." he said, his tone light and airy.

She couldn't do this, she knew that she couldn't. She couldn't see her son so hurt, so wronged. She backed up, eventually tugging towards her own bed.

Takehiro frowned. "I'm only joking, Mie. You can, if you really want." he said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Who even does this? What kind of bastard thinks that this is _okay_? Who could possibly justify taking a mother's baby and changing him so completely?" she demanded, burying her face into her hands.

"Mie, we don't even know if he's changed." Takehiro argued.

"Oh, he's changed alright. Even though that's my Takatomon, there's something about him that's different... Too different for me to ignore. By the time that I found him, he had resigned to his death. I think he _wanted_ to die. Omnimon mentioned that he had been like that for a while before I got there. Like he wanted to die. Of course, if I'd been there, I'd want to die, too. But being deleted isn't as serious and permanent as a human's death. We can be reconfigured. Humans... can't." Gigimon sighed, his ears low. He tucked further into Takato's pit and mumbled, "I don't even think he knows that he's better, or that he's home, at least. He collapsed before I could get him here."

"He doesn't know he's safe?" Mie asked, horrified. For all she knew, he may try to stay in a coma because he doesn't know that he won't be hurt! "We have to tell him differently!" she said, standing again. Immediately, she got dizzy and hit the floor on her knees.

Takehiro hit the ground beside her, putting his arms around her. "You promised me you'd go to bed." he said.

She rested her cheek on his chest. "I did no such thing."

"Mie, you should rest. Go to bed. You can tell him in the morning. Maybe he'll wake up then." he said. "Please."

"He has to sleep to get better anyway, right, Mrs. Matsukimon? That's what the doctor said. So you can both sleep at the same time. And neither of you'll be alone; I'll be here, even when Mr. Matsukimon has to leave." Gigimon purred effortlessly.

Mie smiled at him as Takehiro lifted her. "Fine, you're right. But I'm telling him in the morning."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Takehiro smiled, kissing her and pushing her onto the bed softly.

Mie smiled at him, blew her little boy a good night kiss, and tucked into bed, hoping to fall asleep and for sleep to leave quickly, so she could tell Takato that he was safe.

* * *

><p>Takehiro was startled awake by groaning, tossing, and turning. He looked over at his son, who was doing so lightly, not enough to wake anyone but the light sleeper that Takehiro was. Gigimon was also up, trying to calm him into sleep, but it didn't seem to be working.<p>

Gigimon 's ears twitched, and he looked up. "Mr. Matsukimon! You have to help me; he won't calm down!" he said desperately, quietly enough that Mie stayed asleep.

Takehiro stood, surprised, and went to him, resting a hand on Takato's chest. He didn't know what to do! Takato hadn't been there for two years, and even when he was there, he didn't suffer from nightmares very often. When he did have a nightmare, Mie was usually the one that went to him, or that he awoke. He rarely dealt with nightmares.

Gigimon pressed his forehead against Takato's side and stayed there, despite the tossing and turning. He was purring pathetically, the soothing noise catching in his throat a few times. "Takatomon... I'm here... Please Takatomon, you're okay, I'm right here..." he purred, kneading him softly with his little red paws.

Takehiro watched, not realizing until now just how much Takato meant to Gigimon, or Gigimon to Takato, or how badly Gigimon wanted to protect him. He thought that maybe, since Gigimon was repeating those words, he might like them. He might find comfort in them. He stood over Gigimon and Takato, and started rubbing his cheek softly. "Takato, son, you're safe. I'm here. Your mother and I, your father, are here, and we'll never leave you again." he didn't know what else to say, so he opted to continue stroking his cheek.

Though he waited for a few moments, the words didn't seem to have any effect. He bit his lip, not sure what else he was supposed to do.

Thankfully, though, he didn't have to bother. The constant stroking and kneading and the words slowly calmed Takato until he simply lay there, still, his chest rising and falling.

Takehiro grinned at him proudly, proud of himself for effectively handling the nightmare (and for learning how to deal with another should Takato suffer from them again) and proud of Takato for calming himself so quickly and still keeping calm enough the whole time for Mie to stay asleep.

Gigimon dropped with a huff onto Takato's forearm. He was shaking, nuzzling his nose against the hospital-issued shirt.

Takehiro continued stroking his cheek for a few extra minutes before he reminded himself that Takato truly was safe, and with Gigimon at his side again he would surely be and stay alright. He collapsed backwards into his chair and chose to watch Gigimon fall asleep, noticing him twitch awake with every move that Takato made. After a while, he too fell asleep in his chair, awaiting the awakening of his wife and child.

* * *

><p><strong>Favor to ask!<strong> Does anyone know if it's possible for you to experience nightmares (like Takato did) when you're in a coma, and still be in said coma (medically-induced or not, in this case not) for a few more days or more? I tried googling it, but it didn't really work. It was only Yahoo!answers things, and a lot of it sounded like it was from people who were only speculating... that's not to say that everything in this fic is going to be perfectly scientifically correct (next chapter. Every past chapter, regarding Takato's health) but I feel like I should get it as close as I could without screwing up the plot. Takato living was needed (which is why he lived... explanation next chapter) but Takehiro learning to deal with Takato's nightmare was more of a filler than anything, minus maybe providing a little insight about how Takato finds comfort (it's true. That's how. He finds those words comforting. Hmm... weird or no? I just thought about that...).

Thanks! If I could get some answers, that'd be awesome! XD

~~YAJJ


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